Anata ga Ita Kara
by Feral Phoenix
Summary: Because you were here: fifty Cloudshipping drabbles and oneshots. :50: When you need me, I will be there. No matter what, I will save you. I love you. Compared to that, death is insignificant.
1. Anywhere

Anata ga Ita Kara

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Final Fantasy: Unlimited. Or Akai Kiri. Or Shiroi Kumo. Or any of the quotes from the 50lovequotes community. The term Cloudshipping belongs to me, and my obsession is mine. Don't sue me on anything, or I'll feed you to my muses.

**Note: **While I haven't actually gotten approval for this on LJ yet (the mods are surely busy with that Real Life thing I keep hearing about), this story doesn't want to wait for however many months it will take them to give me the go-ahead. It wants to be written now. Hence, the 50 oneshots and drabbles will be written and posted on FF-Net first. Story information, including summaries, ratings, and which theme is being used, will be included inside each fic for the reader's convenience. Enjoy.

---

**Theme: **01 – "I would go anywhere to get to you, so why is it that all you have to do is smile to get to me?"

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **Life isn't fair. Kiri's not sure whether it's arbitrary or someone up there is out to get him, but he does know that much.

---

"Niisama, what's wrong?" Kumo asked, looking over his shoulder and blinking innocently at his brother.

"Nothing," Kiri said. _Everything, _he thought bitterly.

Kumo stared at him for a moment or two as if wondering if Kiri was really telling the truth, then shrugged and looked away.

_What's _wrong, Kiri thought bitterly, _what's _wrong _is that I can't trust myself around you anymore. I want you. I want you so bad it's killing me. I constantly dream of doing things to you that—you're _twelve, _for heaven's sake, and I want to… what's _wrong _is, I… you're… we're, we're—we have the same _blood _and this can _never _work and I can't stop wanting you. And I'm sick with it. If I can't even stop myself from crying your name when I touch myself, how can I trust myself not to do something to you that I'll regret?_

_This is so screwed-up._

"Niisama…"

"I _said, _it's nothing," Kiri said tiredly.

"Then, would you mind, um… helping me with some of my swordwork?" Kumo asked, lowering his head a little and peeking up at his brother out of wide, imploring green eyes.

As if Kiri could ever resist a face like that. "No problem," he answered immediately, then inwardly sighed.

"Thank you." Kumo gave Kiri his sweetest, most glowing smile. Kiri's heart melted as his belly turned over, twisting with badly stifled pangs of longing.

_…I hate my life._

**Owari.**


	2. True

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **02 – "Kisses are like tears. The only ones that are real are the ones you can't hold back."

**Rating: **K+

**Summary: **It's everything. And nothing. Kumo doesn't know. And he really doesn't care.

---

Kumo was trailing half a step or so behind Kiri, though they were hand in hand, as they meandered through a back route towards home. They were picking their way around the ruins of what had probably been a temple, passing by a large, weathered panel of stained glass.

Emotions bubbled over in Kumo's chest too suddenly for him to consider what he was doing, and on impulse, he closed the distance between himself and his brother, grabbing hold of Kiri's arm and rising up on tiptoe to brush his lips across the side of Kiri's throat, right at the open space between the red ribbon choker and the scarlet cascade of his hair. As Kiri stopped, turning around in surprise, Kumo stretched up to lightly nibble at Kiri's earlobe, then shifted into Kiri's fierce embrace. He felt Kiri's nails dig into his shoulders as his brother's mouth was very suddenly on his, a hard line of teeth grazing his lower lip briefly but viciously, urgently.

And then, everything was dizzy and sweet, Kiri's taste making Kumo go weak at the knees, almost swooning against Kiri's chest. They kissed and shifted, catching a brief gasp of air, and kissed again and Kumo whimpered helplessly into Kiri's lips and felt Kiri answer with a faint moan.

By the time they came apart, Kiri was hazy-eyed and panting slightly. He shook his head a little, and Kumo felt him shiver with the effort of reining in his desire. Then Kiri blinked, and a bewildered but amused smile crossed his flushed lips.

"…where'd _that _come from?" he asked at length, on the edge of laughing.

Kumo thought about it. There were, after all, so very many reasons. _The way you move. The light on your hair, the way your hair frames the nape of your neck. Your hand in mine. Your scent. Your surety. Knowing you're here to protect me, knowing I'll always be here for you. Everything. And nothing._

Kumo shrugged, then blushed a little and smiled shyly and adoringly up at his beloved brother.

"Spur of the moment."

**Owari.**


	3. Dependence

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **03 – "It's funny how someone can live each and every day without knowing that their existence is the reason you live."

**Rating: **K+

**Summary: **Kumo depends on Kiri for everything, even if Kiri doesn't seem to realize it.

- - -

"So, this? This is what you'll probably be working with sometime around next month," Kiri was saying as he pulled one dark Mist bottle from his belt. "Of course, it'll be a while before you're moved up to glass—as I recall, starting summoners are assigned to wood or clay dummy bottles first until they can be counted on to hit reliably."

"Is it that really that difficult?" Kumo asked, shifting where he sat, leaning forward and cocking his head to watch Kiri as he rested his elbows against the Maken in his lap.

"Hell, yes," was Kiri's dry response. He shook his head and rolled his eyes, lightly tossing the bottle from one hand to the other. "These things are pretty small once you've thrown them. And remember, you have to hit it with perfect precision or else your Ittouju won't do what you want it to. It might even rebel against you, or worse, the summon itself could go wrong and you'll call up something warped, something not even a master could control."

Kumo just considered Kiri's easy movements. He remembered his brother complaining about this very aspect of his training a few years ago, whining that he knew he was good enough to summon and that he shouldn't have to spend so long being drilled on rote strikes. It made him want to smile to know that now that it was Kumo facing the same part of training, Kiri had suddenly awakened to the dangers involved.

"I can always help with anything you need," Kiri reminded him, slipping the bottle back into place and reaching over to tousle Kumo's hair. "Whether you need to see a technique a few more times, or some pointers, or just someone to bitch at. Remember, I've been there too—I know this can be a pain in the ass, but it's important." Kiri grinned. "You're a lot more patient than I was at your age, but still. Come to me with whatever you need."

Kumo smiled back and flopped against Kiri's shoulder, closing his eyes and gratefully breathing in his brother's familiar scent.

"…I know I can rely on you," he said softly.

"Hmph." Kiri leaned in to kiss him on the forehead, and slung an affectionate arm around his shoulders. "I certainly hope you do."

Kumo wanted to say for a moment that Kiri had no idea, wanted suddenly to confess the number of times he'd almost given up, _would _have given up on the path of swordsmanship if Kiri hadn't been there to ease his hurts away, would never have had the courage to confront the other children he'd always been so distant from without his brother telling him he would be fine—the fact that without Kiri, Kumo was sure he wouldn't have the strength even to face the next day. But it seemed the wrong time to admit to such a shameful weakness, and Kumo was sure that Kiri already understood everything anyway.

So instead, he just snuggled a little closer and murmured, "Of course."

Kiri laughed and gave Kumo's shoulders a squeeze. "You dope. Well, you know where I am if you ever decide to join the rest of us in logical reality."

"Niisama…," Kumo opened his eyes, saw Kiri's teasing smirk, and shook his head despairingly.

Forget that he ever thought Kiri had really understood. He'd never get it. But then, how was Kumo supposed to openly say that Kiri was his reason for living?

He struggled with the words, then gave up. "…I'll come to you—for everything," he promised instead. "You know I will."

**Owari.**


	4. Jealousy

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **04 – "A little jealousy in a relationship is healthy. It's nice to know that someone is afraid to lose you."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **There's a fine line between being overprotective and downright possessive. Kiri walks it constantly, and Kumo pretends not to notice when he strays over.

---

"Niisama—"

Kumo had to run to keep up as Kiri stormed along, his hands balled into fists, his strides wide, stiff, and staccato.

"Niisama, don't you think that was—" Kumo began hesitantly, then trailed off as the line of Kiri's shoulders instantly went taut.

"Was _what, _Kumo?" Kiri snapped, not even looking at him.

"A little…" Kumo's voice trailed off more and more with each word as, flustered and a bit panicky, he realized that Kiri was probably past the point where he could be reasoned with. "…bit of an… overreaction…?"

"That. _Son of a bitch. _Had his hands. **All. Over. Your. Ass." **Kiri hissed it through gritted teeth, his voice on the edge of a growl. "There is. _No. Fucking. Way. _I am going to let _any _**bastard** like that just try whatever the hell he wants to. Not while _I'm _standing there."

"N-Niisama…" Kumo fidgeted with his ribbon even as he trotted to keep in step with Kiri, who was pointedly not looking at him. "It was p-probably an accident, you didn't have to…"

Kiri whirled and glared at him, and Kumo flinched back from the look of mad rage in his brother's fierce crimson eyes. "Of _course _I had to," Kiri rumbled. "No one is allowed to touch you except for me. _No one. _And you know as well as I do that was no accident." He turned back around, continuing his ferocious march down the street. "Not with that look on his face."

"…………" Kumo chased after Kiri again, dashing in his brother's wake with mincing steps. "But… Niisama…"

"Stop defending the asshole. You didn't like it, did you?" The words were almost an accusation.

Revulsion crawled down Kumo's back. "No—" he said instantly, his face flushing. "Of course not! You know I don't like—being touched like that…"

And it was true. Even when it was Kiri copping a feel, it always made Kumo jump and squeak and dash out of arm's reach. He'd gotten to the point where all he did was blush when Kiri slid an arm around his waist and let his hand rest low, his fingers in a light possessive curl over his butt… however, those out-of-nowhere gropes were something it was hard to be comfortable with.

Kiri grumbled. "Well, good."

As Kumo widened his stride to stay in step with his brother, he realized that Kiri was blushing angrily, his features set into a sullen scowl.

That was when he realized it.

Starting to smile, Kumo reached out and took Kiri's hand. Slowly, Kiri's fist uncurled, and his fingers wove with his brother's as he squeezed Kumo's palm.

"Niisama…"

Kiri's blush deepened steadily, and he tossed his hair disdainfully. _"Someone's _got to defend your honor, you know."

Kumo just covered a soft laugh and eased against Kiri's side, leaning in to soothe his ruffled pride.

**Owari.**


	5. Miracle

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **05 – "Find someone who will stay awake just to watch you sleep."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **It was like some kind of miracle. That's the only way Kiri can think of it. And now that it's over, it's like he's falling in love all over again.

---

Kiri lay in the soft darkness and watched the moonlight play over Kumo's smooth skin.

He was so tired, so very very tired, but he wanted to stay awake just a little longer, if he could. There was something in Kumo's serene but helpless beauty as he slept that made the usual protective urge Kiri got even stronger.

As he watched, Kumo shivered slightly, then edged closer to Kiri with a murmur. Smiling wearily, Kiri reached out to catch hold of the sheets and pull them further up, so that the edge of the comforter rested at an alluring angle over Kumo's bare hips. The bedclothes were still a bit damp, but the window was open and Kiri didn't want Kumo catching cold from sleeping naked and exposed.

The overexertion hurt like hell and his hips felt bruised, but all the same, Kiri still couldn't quite fit his mind around what had just happened between them. For so long, he'd thought it wasn't possible. That even though Kumo loved him, all of his long-suppressed desires would amount to naught. And now here they were, and Kiri almost couldn't believe it, as though this was a dream and sooner or later it would all evaporate.

Kumo shifted again with a muted sleepy sound, sprawled on his side with his arm curled before him so that his fingertips rested at his flushed lips.

Kiri reached out and smoothed his brother's hair, letting his fingertips drift over Kumo's cheek and then down the contours of his side.

Just lying here next to him, it was like falling in love all over again.

He tugged the sheets up a little further—the sweat drying on his back and chest was making him cold, and it surely was for Kumo too—then leaned back into the pillows, keeping his gaze on his brother's face as his eyelids flickered lower and lower.

He needed to get some rest. But—not quite yet. He'd stay up a little while longer to watch Kumo. Just a little longer…

Kiri's eyes closed, and as he lay with one arm still crossing Kumo's body, he instantly dropped into deep sleep.

**Owari.**


	6. Confession

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **06 – "A dream is just a dream until you make it come true."

**Rating: **K+

**Summary: **Some say it takes incredible courage to say how you feel. For Kiri, all it took was not being able to stand it anymore.

---

"Kumo, would you—come up to the roof with me? I—need to talk to you."

Kumo blinked up at his brother, clearly taken by surprise, then nodded. "Okay."

As Kiri opened the window and climbed out, he tried to clamp down on how badly his hands were shaking, but couldn't. His heart was hammering. What had he just _done? _The words had been out before he'd even been able to think about them.

Maybe it would've been smarter to wait. He was only fifteen; Kumo was just _twelve. _Saying it now, explaining everything, would be idiotic. Kumo wouldn't really understand. At best, he'd be confused; at worst, all Kiri would get was outright rejection.

But all the same—living every day so _close _to Kumo while trying to keep his feelings a secret was torture. Love burned brightly in his chest moment by moment, and trying to stifle that glow, pulling back from the touches and kisses he longed to give… it was killing him. He was really getting to be afraid that sooner or later, he'd end up doing something he would regret out of sexual repression—if he didn't do or say _something _to express the way he felt, he'd go crazy.

And so, here he was, blushing bright scarlet and shaking so badly he could practically hear his bones clatter, almost slipping as he helped pull Kumo up onto the roof, his blood pounding in his ears as the two of them stood facing each other, framed by the moon.

"What did you need, Niisama?" Kumo asked, giving him a bright smile.

_Oh shit, this is _nuts _but I can't stop now— _Kiri took a deep breath and fisted his hands, looking down at the stone at his feet. "Kumo, I—" Words failed him, and he squeezed his eyes shut. "The truth is, I—"

"…?"

Kiri felt dizzy, almost like he was going to pass out. _This is so hard! How can I say—but how _can't _I—? Jeez, how did Dad ever manage to say this stuff to Mom back then?! But I can't—I can't back out now. It's too late. I've gotta… _"Kumo, I—I love you."

Kumo cocked his head to the side, looking cute and puzzled but still smiling. "Is that _all? _Hee, I love you too, Niisama…"

"No, that's not—" Kiri shook his head. _Oh, damn—_ "Not—like that. I don't think I've—loved you like… not for a long time, years maybe. I love you—more than anything, so much that everything you do is precious to me. I love you like…"

"Nii…sama…?" Kumo was _staring _up at him, his pretty green eyes going wide.

Kiri shook his head again, swore inwardly as he knew he was out of words, and reached out, brushing his fingertips against Kumo's cheek in a light touch that became a caress before he even realized what he was doing. "Kumo, I…"

He leaned in and gently tilted Kumo's face up, and lightly pressed his lips to his brother's. It was over in a matter of seconds, he knew, but—the moment felt suspended, eternal, between disbelief and maybe even a little horror and the deep cry of fulfillment that echoed from deep within his heart.

Kiri pulled back, starting to shake again. He didn't want to see that shock on Kumo's face, didn't want to feel the pulsing knowledge that he'd done just what he'd _sworn _not to—feeling tears start, he closed his eyes, bowed his head, and hunched his shoulders.

"Niisama." Kumo's voice was very gentle; it was so quiet out now that Kiri could hear the soft sound as Kumo stepped forward. "Niisama?"

Kiri opened his eyes and raised his head, despairing.

Kumo was blushing a little, and smiling, a strangely desperate look on his face, his eyes too bright as he looked up at Kiri adoringly. "Niisama…"

"…"

"Daisuki da ne." And then Kumo closed the distance between them, and Kiri felt Kumo's little hands fist on the front of his novice's reds as he stretched up on tiptoe and their lips met for the second time that night.

_"……!"_ Shock made Kiri numb for a few seconds, but then he put his arms around Kumo's shoulders and held him tightly. The kiss was clumsy and awkward—after all, Kiri had very little experience with intimacy, and Kumo had none at all—but it was sweet.

Kiri's first thought was that he had to be dreaming. His second was that if he was, he never wanted to wake up.

His third was that he didn't care, because nothing else mattered anymore. The only thing that was important, the only thing in the world, was that Kumo loved him.

**Owari.**


	7. Awakened

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **07 – "You are everything I never knew I always wanted."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **It was like that moment woke something that had been dormant in Kumo's heart for a long, long time. And it's so intense now that he almost can't take it.

---

Kumo sat next to Kiri, only aware of his beloved brother's presence and the way his own blood pounded wherever their bodies touched.

The onset of adolescence was something he'd always considered distantly as something that just happened, something ordinary. His voice would start to deepen soon; he'd get taller. His muscles would strengthen—maybe his body would too, enough to get him out of the sickroom and onto the practice fields he so enjoyed. His horns, his hands, and—certain other parts of his body would get bigger. It wouldn't be any big deal. It happened to everyone.

But now everything had been put so sharply into perspective; it had all changed so quickly after that midnight kiss.

His feelings—he'd become aware of them then, and it seemed as though that knowledge had awakened his body as well. Every time they kissed, his love _and _his desire got stronger—so they were growing at so rapid a rate it was almost scary.

But not quite. Kumo knew that this—all of this—must have existed beforehand; he'd just never noticed it. He'd never had need of longings like these until he'd realized how very deeply he loved Kiri.

And now—

Kiri leaned down and set his lips to Kumo's; Kumo leaned into Kiri's arms, yielding up his mouth with a whimper. At first their kisses had been awkward, but everything improved with practice—and Kiri was working now on mastering the nuances of demand. Kumo could barely do anything but shiver and moan and surrender.

And just like that, they were suddenly sprawled across the ground, with Kumo on his back and Kiri half on top of him, breaking apart in surprise. And something about the way Kiri was lying there, or maybe something of their kiss that lingered between them, made heat pulse through Kumo's blood, sending a prickle through his chest—and suddenly want was _burning _between his legs—

Both of them blushed; Kiri sat up.

"I'm sorry—"

"It's—" Kumo swallowed a little, trying to resist the urge to cover his face. "It's okay. Um." He continued on, his voice much smaller and a bit wavery. "It's… not the first time."

Kiri looked surprised for half a second, then his eyes widened and he blushed even worse, shaking his head. "But, I…"

"Niisama, it's okay."

"Kumo…" Kiri rested his face in his hands, obviously trying not to look. "It's just, you're so young to be going through this, and I—how much do _my_ actions have to do with…?"

Kumo sat up and uncomfortably folded his legs to his chest, giving Kiri an awkward smile. "No… it's just… I've always felt like this, I think. I've always wanted you. I just didn't realize until now."

**Owari.**


	8. Wonderful

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **08 – "I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **Everything may end tomorrow. Right now might just be all we have. Let's make it worth it, if that's true.

---

"Are you _sure _you're feeling alright?"

"For the thousandth time… _yes, _Niisama, I am." Kumo gave his brother a patient smile. "I'm just tired. It… takes a lot out of me to cross the dimensions, after all…"

A _lot _more than he was willing to admit, because Kiri was worried enough as it was. It wasn't far from the ruins of their city to one of the entrance points of the battlefield of the stars, and Kumo had only made it about halfway to home when he'd collapsed out on the cloudscape. That probably would've been the end of it, if Kiri hadn't seen him and rushed out to take him inside.

Kiri just gave him that _look, _then shook his head and held out the bowl of soup in his hands. "Then, here—eat something. It's not much… we don't really have much to work with anymore, but… getting something in you will definitely make you feel a lot better."

Kumo tried to reach, but his hands were too numb to hold a spoon, let alone a bowl. "…Niisama…"

"It's okay." Kiri scooted his chair in towards the side of Kumo's bed. "I'll take care of you. You've done enough already."

Kumo just sighed and willingly surrendered, slipping back into that old childhood dependence as Kiri lovingly, patiently fed him. The soup was thin and almost watery, but Kumo tasted withered rice grains and finely ground meat and knew he needed what nutrition it could give him. It had, after all, been a while since he'd eaten last.

No doubt guessing that, Kiri went very slowly. Kumo was hungry, but he didn't protest—if he ate too much too quickly, he'd just end up vomiting later. By the time they were finished, the soup had gone lukewarm, but Kumo was still feeling much better.

As Kiri set the bowl and spoon down next to the wall, Kumo edged up against the pillows. "So… how have things been here?"

Kiri didn't answer for a moment; when he looked up, Kumo saw with a twist of fear that his brother's face was seized with pain.

"…We've lost a few more cities, Hoshi says. It's getting harder for him to hear with all these storms—as the Mist gets thinner, he says the sounds get fainter. And we've lost a lot of our warriors. Ame was—she was hurt very badly in battle, and she… she passed last week."

They were both silent for a long time. Kumo bit his lip and clenched his hands weakly on the sheets, then spoke.

"I think—we can end this," he said softly. "I found out something important in the other world… something that could change everything. Niisama, they're… the people of Windaria, they're like us. More like us than we thought—they're dying, they're terrified, their world is in ruins. And they—Niisama, they didn't start this, just like we didn't. There was someone else—a third party that caused this war."

_"What?" _Kiri stared at Kumo, his crimson eyes wide with shock.

"I wasn't able to find out much… I was afraid I would be seen, but… the connection between our worlds didn't just appear out of nowhere. There's something that created it, and then intentionally sparked conflict between us. It's called Chaos. I don't think it could've defeated us on its own, and that's why it wants to make us destroy each other."

"Then, this means—" Kiri shook his head.

"If we don't do something quickly… Mystaria will be…" Kumo shivered. "We have to find a way to talk to the Windarians. If we can make them understand, we can try to heal, so that we can face Chaos together. It seems like this is the only way to change things."

Kiri took a deep breath. "This is huge," he said at last. "Kumo—you may have saved us, telling us this. Us, and the Windarians too. Tomorrow, I'll gather everyone and you'll have to tell them what you've told me. Then we'll think of something. For now—just rest. Please. You've done all you can, and you need to keep your strength up."

As Kiri made to stand, Kumo reached out and clasped his brother's wrist. "Niisama…"

Kiri looked down at him, then shivered. "Kumo, you aren't strong enough…"

Kumo tugged on Kiri's wrist. "Niisama, please…"

"Kumo…"

"I miss you… I _need _you…" Kumo looked up at Kiri with soulful eyes. "Please, Niisama… I don't want to be alone tonight… I don't think I can stand it. Please…"

"…" Kiri shivered again, then leaned down and brushed his lips against Kumo's cheek—softly at first, then more demandingly, as he moved that line of kisses towards Kumo's parted lips. "…I love you."

Everything happened very quickly after that—almost before Kumo knew what was going on, they were naked and tangled tightly and he was arched up off the bed, his nails tight on Kiri's back and his other hand stretched out behind him, his fingers taut and clutching air with every gasp even as Kiri squeezed it hard. The pleasure was so intense it was almost painful, and Kiri was shaking as he ravaged Kumo with violent tenderness—and Kumo opened his eyes wide but saw nothing as he arced back and cried Kiri's name over and over to the heedless heavens—

—and it was done, and Kumo lay curled and exhausted in Kiri's loose embrace, both of them panting, Kumo already drifting off. With the comforting rhythm of Kiri's heartbeat against his cheek and Kiri stroking his short hair absently, he slipped into a deep and dreamless sleep, the best he'd had in months.

---

The sound of explosions jolted Kumo into wakefulness, and he struggled to roll to his side, wide-eyed and bewildered.

The open window framed a truly terrifying scene—vicious streaks of stone trailed in flames were raining from the sky, scoring the clouds and the buildings. Windaria was making good on its opportunity.

The next second, the door slammed open, and there was Hoshi, pale-faced with his Maken in hand. "Kiri! We have to go!"

Kumo looked to see that Kiri was already getting out of bed, struggling back into his clothes. _"Shit! _How long do we have?"

"There's no time!" Hoshi pointed to the outside. "We have to stop this! Mystaria can't take it—if we let too many of those things hit us, our entire _world _could be—"

Kiri vaulted the bed in one leap, gathering up his weaponry. Terrified, Kumo pulled his shirt on, fighting to sit up. "Niisama—"

Kiri turned, saw what Kumo was doing, and forced him back down. _"No! _You're in no condition to go out there! Just stay here and rest, I'll take care of everything!"

Fear shot through Kumo's body, and he clung to Kiri's shoulders. "But—!"

_"Listen _to me for once, damn it!" Kiri shook him. "I'll protect you! I'll protect everyone! They can't keep this up forever—once it's over, we'll stop this! Just trust me!"

"Niisama—" Kumo just stared up at him with wide, tear-filled eyes.

Kiri leaned down and held him tightly, fiercely. "Just stay here. Get your strength back. We'll need you later. I can take care of this. Don't worry. We'll all be fine."

"I love you," Kumo half-sobbed, half-whispered, squeezing Kiri tightly.

"I love you, too," Kiri replied softly, and kissed Kumo's cheek. He carefully extricated himself from Kumo's desperate embrace, then smiled down at his brother. "Wait for me."

And then he was gone, and Kumo was left alone in the room with his wild terror and his fevered prayers that Kiri would be able to last this out—that they'd be able to change things after all.

**Owari.**


	9. Apology

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **09 – "You can't stay mad at somebody who makes you laugh."

**Rating: **K

**Summary: **Kiri is infamous for always winding up with his foot in his mouth. Maybe because of that, he's also perfected the art of the sincere apology.

---

"Kumo—"

"Niisama, please just leave me alone." Kumo sat down on the low stone wall, wrapping his arms tightly around himself as though trying to hold in the hurt, bowing his head and closing his eyes. "I don't want to talk about it."

There was a short silence, followed by the muffled sound of Kiri's footsteps drawing nearer and then the voluminous ruffle of fabric as he swept his cloak out behind him and sat down next to Kumo.

"Hey…"

Kumo felt Kiri's hand on his shoulder and drew back, curling closer into himself, holding onto the raw edges of the wound his brother's thoughtless, flippant remark had caused. It made him miserable and he felt mean and horrible for it, but he wanted to hang on to his anger even though he _knew _that Kiri was trying to apologize, and probably truly sorry for what he'd said.

There was a long silence, and then:

"Kumo, look." Kiri touched his shoulder lightly, almost hesitantly. Reluctantly, Kumo opened his eyes and gave his brother a sidelong glance; Kiri was pointing up into the sky.

Kumo looked up and saw flashes of color above them—pieces of cloth fluttering on a line high, high in the sky: a child's kite. As he watched, the edge of his anger receding and replaced by a hollow sense of regret and loss, Kiri put his hand over Kumo's, then took a breath and began incredibly to sing.

"Maeel nelfes sanaratero aneromio ne, anei subedenelfe mierotero anerofero ne…"

It was just short of _absurd. _Kumo hadn't heard Kiri sing that song for _years. _His voice couldn't even reach the highest notes naturally, so he'd dropped it an octave so he wouldn't have to sing it falsetto. For a moment, Kumo was torn between laughing and asking Kiri to stop, but a third, stronger urge took precedence over both. Habit was too powerful for Kumo to resist. He joined in, his barely-changing voice slipping from its clear tenor back to the pure soprano of his childhood.

"Meneselbemel almel nelfael, taemel naefes, albael nefalerel, welfae daesten, aenjenefael maestel…"

Their voices soared and entwined in the simple melody until Kiri stopped short suddenly, blinking in surprise, and smiled and stuck his tongue out, laughing self-mockingly.

"…Niisama?"

"Missed a note," he explained, then shrugged one shoulder. "It _has _been a while, after all."

Kumo covered a giggle, and the two of them sat in far more comfortable silence until Kiri sobered, then reached out and put his arm around Kumo's waist, pulling them together.

"…I'm really sorry," he said softly, cradling Kumo against him, leaning down to kiss his little brother's cheek.

Kumo snuggled closer and smiled sadly, feeling remorseful tears sting at his eyes. "…I forgive you," he whispered, and held Kiri tightly as they lay against each other, watching the sky.

**Owari.**


	10. Perspective

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **10 – "I look at them, and they look back with those incredible eyes, smile, and it pathetically makes my entire day."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **Kiri figured it was just one of those days, the kind where everything that can suck does. Then again, Kumo was waiting for him at home, so it couldn't be all bad.

---

It had been a particularly harrowing day.

Kiri had had to deal with three separate groups of younger kids who'd thought they were hot stuff and, as usual, were resentful of his so-called social status. All three confrontations had devolved predictably into fistfights, and since they'd all been mob-on-one affairs, Kiri had just _barely _pulled through with his shaky knowledge of sendou.

After that, he'd had class, and already achy from all the fresh bruises, Kiri's concentration had been lacking. Sora'd spent the entire day breathing down his neck, demanding to know what was wrong and _then _interrogating him after she'd noticed the marks starting to show. Judging him incapable of carrying out his daily duties, Sora had then put him to desk work, writing an essay about the properties of sendou and how one could use it to heighten one's chances of success in battle. She'd then made him rewrite it twice, stating both times that his writing was filled with too much fluff and not enough about flying.

On the way home, there'd been still _more _fights, these about Kumo—there were still those who made fun of his albinism, and there were plenty more who liked to term him a whore because of how close he was to Kiri when they hadn't been life-bonded yet. If it had been about anything else, Kiri might have turned around and flown off—he was hurting _that _much—but there was no way he could let _any _affront to Kumo's honor, no matter how slight, slide by. He would've lost the last of those, but Hoshi and Arashi had been passing by and they'd come to his rescue. He'd thanked them afterwards, hoping that his desperate gratitude didn't show too obviously.

Ame had found them then, and she'd panicked when she'd seen him all beat-up and dragged him straight down to Kohaku's so that the two of them could heal his worst injuries. To add insult to injury, his mother had been down there paying a social call, and while Ame and Kohaku flanked him and discussed just how badly he'd almost lost, he'd gotten a searing lecture on why one does not brawl in the street like an uneducated child with no connection to the Way nor any communal sense at all. Beyond not being princely, it just wasn't _polite._

So, feeling sore and needled and abused in almost every sense of the word, Kiri crawled back to the house in a black mood, knowing that he was probably all but haloed with storm clouds.

The first thing he saw once he was inside was Kumo.

Catching sight of him, Kumo visibly brightened, stood up, and ran over to him with a smile. "Niisama! You're home!"

Kiri's heart instantly went _splat, _and he found himself smiling back as he scooped Kumo into his arms and kissed his little brother deeply. Here at last was love, and warmth, and absolute acceptance. Here, in Kumo's gentle arms, in his soft lips, in his sweet scent. Here was a place where Kiri could die happy, right then and there.

"How was your day?" Kumo asked softly as they nuzzled close, all but purring.

Kiri just shrugged and held Kumo close. "…Eh. It could've been worse."

**Owari.**


	11. Need

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **11 – "I don't love you because I need you; I need you because I love you."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **At a glance, their relationship seems based on physicality. In truth, it goes so much deeper than that.

---

They lay side by side on the wreckage of the bed linens, panting and dizzy and sleepy.

The nagging worry that had been bothering Kumo all day managed to crawl through the floating bliss of the afterglow, souring the joy that had been their lovemaking, and he turned to look at Kiri with an effort. "…Niisama?"

"Nn." Kiri opened his eyes; that bleary crimson gaze slid over to Kumo, almost making him smile. But with his carnal needs satisfied, at least for now, Kumo was able to keep his mind on the task at hand.

"…Niisama, I can't help but feel lately… like this is all there is between us."

"Huh?" Kiri blinked, groaned, and edged up on his elbows, looking down at Kumo with a puzzled expression. "What are you talking about?"

Kumo made a face and looked ashamedly away. "I-I mean, it's not like I have a _problem _with, with making love with you, it's just… it seems like that's the only thing we _do _when we're together now. Have sex, I mean."

And it was painful, to think that need was all that tied them together, that sex was all that Kiri wanted from him now. Because sometimes, Kumo would lie awake while Kiri slept curled beside him (or upon him, or _inside _him) and that sense of wretchedness would crawl up on his soul, that hollowness and that worry that he was no longer enough, and that feeling like he'd been used.

And the fear that _he _was becoming like that, too.

Kiri just looked down at Kumo consideringly, then smiled and shook his head. "You little idiot," he said tenderly, reaching out to touch Kumo's cheek lightly. "Think about it for a minute, would you?"

"N…Niisama?" Kumo just blinked up at him, bewildered.

Kiri sighed patiently. "Kumo, listen to me. Sex is nice. Sex with _you _is quite frankly what dreams are made of. But if sex was all I wanted, I wouldn't have had to wait for you to be physically mature enough to stand it. There are plenty of people in Mystaria who'd be more than happy to have me. But I waited for you, because you're the one I love.

"Besides, even though sex is fun and it feels good, it doesn't make the world go 'round, as the saying goes. If this was just about a good time, I would definitely be able to keep my hands off you for five minutes." Kiri grinned mischievously, and Kumo smiled back, blushing. "I want you all the time because I'm madly in love with you, stupid. It wouldn't mean nearly as much if I wasn't."

"So, then… why is this _all _we do?" Kumo asked again as Kiri shifted to lean over him, lightly kissing him.

"The novelty hasn't worn off yet," Kiri said simply.

"I-I… see," Kumo managed as Kiri put a hand on his chest, trailing it down over his belly and settling it between his legs.

"That said, why don't we…" Kiri purred.

_"Niisama!"_

Kiri sat up, laughing. "It was a _joke. _You know neither of us can take any more right now."

Kumo just groaned and leaned back into the tangled bedding. "…you're _impossible."_

**Owari.**


	12. Faith

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **12 – "Faith is believing in something when common sense tells you not to."

**Rating: **K

**Summary: **Kiri believes that Kumo will return, because the alternative is unthinkable.

---

Kiri stood at the window, resting his clenched fists on the sill and staring out into the storm-torn cloudscape. His nails were biting into his palms so hard that he was bleeding, but he barely noticed the pain, and he didn't care.

It had been almost a month.

"He's not coming back, Kiri." That was what the others kept telling him. Over and over. Endlessly. And there was that fear in him, too. That was why he was here, or at least that was one side of why. The other part of it was simple. He knew with all his body and soul but that tiny, irrational corner of his heart that Kumo would be here soon—maybe today, maybe tomorrow; maybe five minutes from now—and he had to be there when he arrived.

Even as hope faded in everyone around him, Kiri held himself fast and believed with all his soul.

Because despite everything they said, he _knew _Kumo would come back to him.

Because if he believed any differently, he would break.

"Kiri."

Hoshi was standing beside him, putting a tentative arm around his shoulders, watching him with that worried look on his face. Kiri wanted to tell him to stop, but it would've taken too much energy that could be far better used to watch and wait.

"Kiri, you have to get some rest. You need to eat, to sleep. You're wearing yourself down. _Please. _If you keep this up, you're not going to last through the next attack. Just sit down and relax for a few hours. Come on…"

Kiri shook his head numbly, stubbornly. "No… I have to…"

"Kiri…" For a moment, it seemed like Hoshi was going to start on the same tack as everyone else, but then the arm around Kiri's shoulders squeezed, pulling him against his friend's side. "Kiri, please just listen to reason. Rest for a bit; I'll take up the watch for you. Just in case he really does…"

Kiri squared his shoulders, and fought the tears and the pain and the exhaustion. "…it has to be me here. I have to wait. I can't let him down, like everyone else has…"

"Kiri…"

_"I love him," _Kiri spat, pushing Hoshi away.

Hoshi sighed and walked off, deeper into the ruins. Kiri gritted his teeth, clenched his fists tighter and bled onto the dingy stone sill, and continued to pray as hard as he could.

If he let the doubt in for even a second, he would fall apart.

He didn't care what anyone else said. Kumo _was _coming home.

**Owari.**


	13. Loss

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **13 – "I think the worst thing about life would be having to go through it without you."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **Sometimes the very worst thing you can imagine is exactly what comes true.

---

**"NIISAMA!"**

Kumo forgot weakness, forgot everything as Kiri slammed into the ground in a crumpled heap. The world went silent but for his pitched screams, the pounding of his heart as he vaulted out the window, hit the storm-torn clouds, and ran for where he'd seen his beloved brother fall.

_"Niisama! _NIISAMA!"

The spell-born meteorite had hit Kiri hard. He lay twisted at an unnatural angle, blood staining his swordsman's reds from his chest to just past his swordbelt, spilling onto the gray-white of the worn clouds around him. His hand was still feebly curled around the hilt of his Maken, and his ribcage shifted in sharp, spastic movements as he struggled to hold on to life.

"Niisama…!"

Kumo knelt beside his brother's broken body, and in a flash he saw that there was nothing he could do, that Kiri's chest had been crushed, that the bones of his left leg had been snapped grotesquely in three places, that one of the major muscles in his right arm had been completely severed, that blood was foaming over his lips with each weak and desperate gasp. Love and denial and terror then smoothed over the realization that came with those sights, and Kumo trembled and touched Kiri's shoulders and then clutched them hard as he searched Kiri's face for recognition, for a reaction, for—_anything—_

And then Kiri's fevered gaze settled on Kumo, and the delirium of his physical state dissipated, and his eyes were crystalline clear and horribly aware as they filled with tears.

"Niisama?!" Kumo wailed, shaking uncontrollably.

"…" Kiri's throat worked, but he didn't have the strength to form words. He just stared at Kumo out of those wounded eyes for a handful of precious seconds. And then—

Then Kiri's tears spilled, and his eyes half-closed and his head fell to the side and his sword fell from his hand, and his chest pulsed once more in one sad shuddering breath and was still.

Kumo had seen that empty look before, and he knew what it meant. But his mind had gone fuzzy and blank and he couldn't quite seem to think. Panicked and choking up and knowing but unable to believe, Kumo shook Kiri's shoulders.

"Niisama…? _Niisama? _Niisama…"

Nothing.

"Nii…sama…?"

Still nothing. Kumo shook him harder. Kiri rolled nervelessly with the motion, but did not respond. The explosion of another meteor striking nearby cast his bloody, tear-streaked face into stark relief.

"Niisama…" Hot tears started to rain down Kumo's face, and he fell upon Kiri's lifeless body with a sob. _"Niisama…?!"_

Heedless of the desperate battles, the deaths and the injuries around him, Kumo clung to Kiri even more desperately. "Niisama, _no, _you _can't… _we promised… we _promised, _Niisama… please… please… _no… _I love you… why… why…?"

Sobbing and shaking and overcome with his turbulent emotions and feeling his mind itself starting to snap, Kumo sat up and pulled Kiri into his arms and kissed him desperately, over and over again. His brother's lips were still warm. The blood in his mouth had gone bittersweet, and Kumo choked on the taste and held Kiri tightly and cried and cried.

"…Niisama… _Niisama… _please… don't leave me… _don't go…"_

As Mystaria fell into ruin, Kumo sat heedless of the chaos surrounding him, and cradled Kiri's body to his chest through the night, not letting go even when the corpse in his arms had gone cold, not even when his world shattered. He held on to the one who'd been the love of his life, and to his disbelief, and to his scattering sanity, unable to give Kiri up to death.

**Owari.**


	14. Mark

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **14 – "Never say sorry for what you meant to do."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **This may be the most important moment of Kumo's life. It's mean for Kiri to take advantage of the position he's in. But still, how can he not? (Midnight)

---

Kumo lay back against the spread of pillows on the sofa once he'd stepped out of his clothes, the candlelight against his face casting his slightly anxious expression into stark relief. Kiri stifled a smile at the thought of how like _another _important night this was, then put those thoughts and the want churning at the back of his mind cleanly aside. Sitting down on the coffee table, he dipped the needle into the dish of black ink, then the flame, then looked up and met Kumo's eyes. "Are you ready?"

Kumo bit his lip, naked and vulnerable and looking childishly afraid. "…Niisama… how much will this really hurt?" he asked softly.

Kiri looked for a moment at the black spiral encircling the line on his right bicep, then shrugged. "It's definitely going to hurt a little at first," he admitted. "It'll take a while to get used to it. Still, I'll be careful, and it'll be done before you know it."

Kumo took a deep breath, then sighed. "…Okay, then. I'm ready."

He leaned back, and Kiri leaned forward as his little brother spread his legs. The motion was starkly sexual, and it got Kiri's blood up even as he chewed at his lip for a moment, then pushed Kumo's right leg out a little more and bent over his thigh, setting the needle to Kumo's soft skin.

Kumo gasped and flinched. Kiri scowled. "Don't fidget," he murmured as he shot the ink into his little brother's skin, along the faint outline of the mark he'd bear to the end of his days.

As he traced the central pillar of the Knight's tattoo, Kumo quivered fitfully and moaned. "It hurts," he almost sobbed, gasping again as Kiri passed the needle through the flame again and dipped it into the ink for a series of fresh stabs and strokes.

"Shh," Kiri soothed absently, now definitely aroused but refusing to let it interfere. This was too important—the tattoo was what would make Kumo a Knight of the Round, and through the first few years of his Knighthood, Kumo's life might well depend on it.

"Nnhh…" Kumo flinched again, and gasped, and continued to make soft sounds that were an equal blend of pain and desire. "N-Niisama…"

So Kiri wasn't the only one who felt this way. Well, fine. It was good for Kumo to have something to balance out how much this was hurting him.

In fact…

Kiri sat up and took his time getting more ink on the needle and cleaning it in the fire. When he leaned back in, he shifted his shoulders to let his long hair trail across Kumo's belly and groin.

Kumo gasped and arched up, only just catching himself before he jerked back. _"Niisama—"_

Kiri fought the urge to grin. "Hold still, I said," he told Kumo instead, this time brushing the back of his hand between Kumo's legs as he worked to reposition his brother so as to get a better angle for inking in the spiral.

_"Ah—" _Kiri risked a quick peek up. Kumo had squeezed his eyes closed, and his hands were shaking where they were bunched on the pillows.

"Oops," he said a bit wickedly, then got back down to business. If he happened to touch Kumo's belly or his groin with a hand or the movement of his elbow or a few strands of hair that wouldn't stay tucked behind his ear, it could quite easily have been an accident. Kiri's crooked smile grew as he heard Kumo starting to pant and felt the skin beneath his hands growing hot, as he watched from the corner of his eye as Kumo went hard. It wasn't as cruel as it seemed, really. Getting a tattoo was usually _much _more painful, but with Kumo turned on like this, there was absolutely no agony in his brother's low moans that it hurt. This would be a good memory.

With the spiral and line complete in shining black and dotted blood on Kumo's skin, Kiri decided it was time to clinch things. Setting the needle down on the table, he leaned in close, so that his nose was barely an inch from the inside of Kumo's thigh, and softly blew on the ink to help whatever pigment was at the surface of Kumo's skin dry off more quickly, releasing just the slightest breath of Mist to ease any pain Kumo might still feel.

Kumo let out a cry that was half curse, half choked wail.

As he sat up, Kiri saw that Kumo's face was flushed, his lips were swollen, and there were tears all over his cheeks. When he opened his eyes, they were frantic with lust, and there was no warning before Kumo reached out and grabbed Kiri, pulling his brother down into his kiss.

When they broke apart for want of air, Kumo let out a weak moan. "Y-you… you did that all on purpose—"

"Yes, I did." Kiri smirked, then ran one hand down Kumo's heaving chest, along the lean lines of his smooth, flat belly, and settled it between his legs. "And you know what?" He squeezed, then leaned in as Kumo arced up, crying out. "I'm not sorry."

**Owari.**


	15. Patience

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **15 – "Some things are worth waiting for… even if you have to wait forever."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **If it makes sense, Kumo, the longer we wait for this, the more it's going to mean in the long run. Understand? (Kokoro no Hanashi)

---

"But I'm sixteen now," Kumo was saying, his eyes half-closed and smoky with desire, as he shivered in Kiri's arms, sprawled over his brother's body along their bed. "We could be life-bonded any day we choose. Most people in our position would've _already…"_

"I know, alright?" Kiri let out a hiss of a sigh. He _knew, _and he _wanted, _but he'd made a promise and he was going to stick to it. "But I don't want to hurt you. It's still too soon."

"But _two more years," _Kumo moaned softly, all childish impatience.

"It's not that long," Kiri lied.

"Niisama…"

"Kumo, we can't. We really—_really—_can't." Kiri sighed. _Damn, _this was hard to explain. "It's not that I don't want you… it's that I, I want the first time to be perfect. It _has _to be perfect. You know?"

"As long as it's with you, it _will _be," Kumo insisted, his hands tight on Kiri's shirt.

"But if we just let ourselves get carried away, and it's an accident and it's not planned and we don't have what we need—" Kiri took another deep breath. It was so impossibly hard to think with Kumo lying there. "I want this to be special, not the kind of thing that's going to happen all the time after we're life-bonded. You and I… we have so much to look forward to already; why shouldn't there be more?"

"…" The look in Kumo's eyes told Kiri he still didn't really understand.

"Obviously our first time's going to mean something," Kiri went on awkwardly, scratching his head. "I just—instead of it just meaning _something, _I want it to mean _everything."_

Kumo hesitated, then sat up. "Niisama…"

"It's a pain in the ass to have to wait when I want you like all hell, when I need you like you could never believe, but—" Kiri shrugged.

"No… it's just…" Kumo smiled and blushed and delicately brushed a fingertip at the corners of his eyes. "I-I know exactly what you mean."

**Owari.**


	16. Speechless

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **16 – "For some moments in life, there are no words."

**Rating: **K+

**Summary: **There are some things that it's impossible to say. (Kokoro no Hanashi)

---

It was everything.

It was the first moment Kiri had laid eyes on his baby brother, and been enthralled by the fact that a living creature could be so small and beautiful and perfect.

It was the first time Kumo had ever called his name, and the way his heart had thrilled to the sound, knowing it was one of his brother's very first words.

It was the day Kiri had realized very suddenly that the adoration he held for Kumo was _not _altogether brotherly, and the day he'd confessed as much on the rooftop in the middle of the night. It was Kumo's acceptance—and reciprocation—of those feelings.

It was the days and weeks and months of wonder that had followed, the hidden kisses and secret touches and constant closeness. It was the trying time that had come on the heels of Kiri's sixteenth birthday, and the day they'd stood side by side, hand in hand and told their parents the truth. It was their father's fairly given blessing, and the seal of their pact.

It was a promise that had gotten harder and harder to keep with every second of love.

It was a million moments of loving and living; Kiri carefully demonstrating a new sword technique to Kumo, and Kumo almost falling flat on his face when he tried it out. Kiri's pride at the first time Kumo had ever called up an Ittouju, the way his heart had felt so full it was as if it would burst. Passing a melody back and forth between Kumo's flute and Kiri's cello in private, then onstage, and the delighted applause and cheers of their audience.

It was the announcement that Kumo had been chosen as the ritual dancer who would relight the sigils of protection that shielded Mystaria from the Heartless. It was the hours and days and weeks and months of intensive practice and training; Kumo curled up, despairing; Kumo dancing in front of the mirror with Kiri there to help with a confusing step or offer advice or just support; Kumo biting back tears as Kiri washed and bandaged his feet, carefully taping cracked and bloody nails and broken toes. A moment of victory; chasing each other over the water's surface in a burst of giddy laughter and light, dancing steps.

It was Kumo's sixteenth birthday; the beautiful blue-white kimono he'd so adored. His decision that this would be what he wore at the ceremony.

Disaster.

Holding Kumo as his eyes went blank, as blood and life poured from his gaping chest. The helplessness as Fabula had forced him away, weaving the spell that would keep Kumo's body alive. The decision that no matter what it took, he would save the love of his life.

It was all the miles, all the battles. The faces of friends and allies and enemies, the exhilaration of raising his sword in Kumo's name; the losses and the victories. Each revelation, bringing him closer and closer to Kumo.

And then, a wound still fresh: The knowledge that Kumo would not be his first. The reeling despair and self-hatred stemming from that fact that had almost destroyed him.

Fighting through his own weakness, fighting for Kumo and for his friends. Walking the road to its bitter end, and the ugly discovery that it was not over, that Kumo's own body now stood in his way.

Battle—a battle that would have broken him, had he not known that he could not let this go for _anything, _that Kumo's life was very literally in his hands.

And through all that, the knowledge that Kumo had still striven to be with him, still pushed himself to be of all the help it could. The spiritual visitations that had hurt his heart so badly, the brief moments that had spurred Kiri on, renewing his determination with every breath.

It was the miracle moment.

And now Kumo was in his arms, and he couldn't speak, not even to say what all this meant.

There was no way that words could express it anyway.

A kiss couldn't quite suffice, either… but it came that much closer.

**Owari.**


	17. Comfort

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **17 – "All I want is for someone to hold me and tell me that everything is going to be okay."

**Rating: **K

**Summary: **They're the words Kumo needs most to hear, but she isn't the one he needs to hear them from.

---

"But _still,_ what do you expect _me _to do about it?" Ai protested as she stalked off down Silvia's halls with Yu and Clear both following her. "Since when did _I _turn into Makenshi's babysitter?!"

"Sis…" Yu began, but she cut him off.

"I mean, you know how he is! He's just like Lisa, he'd prob'ly rather _die _than admit he's miserable! He doesn't _want _anyone around to hold his hand, and out of everybody on this ship, he's probably the best at taking care of himself! So why do you expect _me _to just go drop everything and play mommy just 'cause you think he's _having a bad dream?"_

"He was _crying," _Clear said softly. Ai stopped and turned around, staring at both of them with wide eyes.

"He _what?"_

"We'd've just woken him up and tried to ask what was wrong, but he only talks to you about stuff like that," Yu told his sister, trying to even out his breathing. "It'd be awkward, with us…"

"You're definitely the best at cheering people up out of everyone here," Clear added with a smile. "And… doesn't he need it more than anyone else?"

"Fine, fine," Ai relented at last, sighing. Making a face, she turned from Clear to Yu. "Where is he, then?"

"Out on the bridge," Yu replied. "And… he was calling for his brother when we saw him…"

---

Ai found him curled up in an out-of-the-way corner, half-covered by that tattered red cape he dragged around wherever he went as long as they weren't in combat situations, his face tearstained and more tears caught in his black lashes. He was shaking slightly, but otherwise was almost entirely silent. As she drew closer, she saw that his lips were moving, and just barely caught a hushed but heartbroken whisper of "Niisama" as she knelt down beside him.

Making a face, Ai put her hand on his shoulder. Before she could shake him, he flinched and started, his eyes opening wide.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly.

Makenshi sat up and passed his hand over his eyes, blinking down at it as if surprised to find that it was wet. His eyes went hazy, and he pressed his fingers to his forehead as if he was dizzy. "…I'm… alright."

Ai scowled at him. His voice was hoarse and blunt, twisted by the tears he'd shed in his dreams. Despite how he'd rubbed his eyes, there were still thin wet streaks trailing from just below his cheekbones down off his face, and the skin right beneath his eyes was flushed red and slightly puffy. "Jeez, you're worse than _Lisa," _she said, annoyed. "Why's it so bad for you to admit you're not feeling good?"

He closed his eyes again, and the delicate line of his jaw went taut as he gritted his teeth. "—I'm fine," he said at length, sounding like he was forcing the words.

Ai just looked at him, watching as he struggled to pull his emotionless façade back in place. She'd been completely wrong about her first impression of him; he wasn't like Kaze at all. Kaze just plain didn't care about _anything. _Makenshi—he tried to cut himself off because he cared too much, and when it didn't work, it tortured him. Just like with Lisa, painful memories always snuck up on him in his sleep, and it killed his cover every time.

_"Makenshi…" _she said meaningfully.

"I'm _fine," _he repeated. It sounded like he was trying to make himself believe it.

"…" Ai glowered, then scooted in and put her arms around him, holding him tightly. "…Liar."

"—?!" He shuddered, almost flinched at her touch. It was as if he didn't know whether to fear it or welcome it. "Ai, what…"

"You just shut up," she told him, closing her eyes and leaning her cheek against his chest. "If you need to cry, then _cry. _Stop being stupid. If you miss him, don't hide it."

Another flinch. Ai knew she'd just hit the nail on the head.

"It's okay, you know," she said, a little more gently. "Everything's gonna be okay."

Makenshi trembled for a moment, then Ai felt something wet dripping on her shoulder, and his arms were around her, his grip almost painfully tight. He shook and shook, and when Ai peeked up, the tears were a brilliant cascade down his face, but he never made a sound.

He really was _hopeless,_ Ai decided with a sigh as she sat there and let him cling to her.

**Owari.**


	18. Everything

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **18 – "Someone asked me what I saw in you, and my only answer was everything."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **Of course, something like this just had to happen at their engagement party. Kiri really should never have agreed for there to be alcohol available.

---

Kiri sat back in his chair after informing his mother that no, he really did _not _need any more saké, and wondered how in the hell it had come to this.

Well, beyond the obvious informing the parents and their informing the city that their sort-of princes were not going to marry into any families here or anywhere else, but that they'd sort of fallen in love with each other instead. Oops. And that, as there was no un-falling from this love in sight, said princes were going to intermarry. And have a great big splashy life-bonding, if Madori had any say in it. (Kiri really hoped she wouldn't. He wanted a nice, quiet ceremony with Kumo and their friends and family, and nice flowers and good food and maybe something of a party, and then peace and quiet and a soft bed in which to enjoy the spoils afterwards. But then, Madori was his mother, and once she'd gotten used to the idea of her sons' feelings, she'd been playing on the conception that being so, she was entitled to make a fuss over them. Ugh.)

So here were the well-wishers, and the curious, and the slightly appalled. Along with the rather close-minded side of Mystaria that waxed apoplectic at anything even remotely resembling social status, not to mention incest between princes. The former were congratulatory or at least making polite conversation with his parents. The latter were giving him suspicious sidelong looks across the tables and the ballroom floor.

Fuck. How _had _this happened?

Ignoring his empty saucer of saké, Kiri reached across the table for a decanter of red wine and drained it in one sanity-fortifying gulp. He was, he realized, slightly drunk, but _honestly! _It was _his _party, so he'd be as incapacitated as he wanted to be, dammit.

His and Kumo's engagement reception, to be precise. Kiri was happy. And nervous. Can't forget nervous, he reminded himself as he reached for another glass of wine. God. The amazaké his mother had offered him to take a little of the edge off didn't have nearly enough kick.

"Slow down on that," Madori told him with a frown, elbowing him in the side. "People may want to hear from you later; you don't want to be slurring."

Kiri moaned and covered his face with his hands.

He heard his mother's quiet laugh, then felt her hand on his shoulder. "I know how you feel," she said kindly. "The conservatives had me wanting to crawl under the table at _my _engagement reception, too. Your poor father was even worse. You'll make it through alright; we did."

"I think I'm going to be sick," Kiri said into his hands.

Madori patted his shoulder and murmured, then headed off to find Kageshi. Kiri peeked through his fingers and looked around.

Kumo was across the room, wearing his best kimono with his shinai thrust through the back of his obi. He was standing with Kiri's classmates and friends Hoshi and Arashi, who were both smiling and apparently congratulating him. The sight relaxed him a bit. Hoshi and Arashi were the only two people in this room other than his parents who'd known about him and Kumo before the major public announcement. Kiri hadn't meant for them to find out, but being a starry-eyed young couple themselves, they'd decided they wanted privacy during a recent festival and had headed to the outskirts of town only to walk in on Kiri and Kumo taking shelter in some ruins for a quick (uh—it really _was _supposed to've been quick, _really!)_ tryst. Oops (again).

Aside from the requisite mental scarring, Hoshi and Arashi had, amazingly, accepted Kiri and Kumo's relationship with remarkably few questions. They'd actually been invited tonight, and they were glowingly supportive of their friends, openly proud and happy for him and Kumo.

God, it'd been a good day's work when Kiri'd gotten to know those two.

Picking up that wineglass Madori'd told him not to, Kiri drank deeply, then looked to his other side, where Kumo's friend Ame the Guardian/healer was sitting. She was young, so she'd only been drinking saké, but despite the partying and vivid rumormongering taking part in equal proportions throughout the room, she'd been scowling into her drink for a good twenty minutes now.

"So—you and Kumo, then," she said very suddenly.

Kiri blinked.

"Uh—yeah," he managed at last. "That… _is _what this whole thing's about, after all…"

"I don't get it," Ame grumbled.

"Huh?"

"Why—_him? _Why someone of your own blood?" She looked angry and bitter and as though she was struggling to understand.

"It wasn't like I was _trying _to fall in love with my own brother… it just kinda happened," Kiri replied, bewildered.

"But even if you _do _only like—I don't understand what the _point _is! I mean—when there are so many others in the city who'd _die _to be yours—why someone like _that?" _Ame stood up, swaying, and Kiri realized that she was _completely smashed, _her eyes unfocused and her face bright red.

"Ame—sit down," Kiri said, unnerved. "C'mon, you're drunk…"

"Just _tell _me!" she shrieked, flinging her arm out and smashing it into the row of glasses, which toppled and shattered, spilling their contents all over the table and splattering Kiri and Ame with red and pale gold droplets of alcohol. "What the _hell _did you ever _see _in him?!"

Kiri just stared for a moment, dimly aware that the entire room had gone silent and that everyone was watching them. His _own _half-drunken state and his numb disbelief had a lot to do with his answer—both how long it took for him to make it, _and _its absolute, unadorned honesty.

"Everything," he said simply.

**Owari.**


	19. Follow

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **19 – "Sometimes, you need to run away to see who will follow."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **Usually, reverse psychology isn't that good an idea. Unless, that is, the one you're using it on knows you really well.

---

The grove of trees was little more than a green-and-brown blur as Kumo bolted through them, dizzy and panting, granted speed by hurt and shame.

_"Kumo!"_

Footsteps, and a familiar voice.

"Kumo, _get back here! _Where are you going?"

Half of Kumo was shocked. The other half—well, the other half of him was nothing short of relieved. His run slowed to a walk, and he turned just in time to jump back so Kiri wouldn't smack into him. As it was, Kiri skidded straight into his arms, red-faced and gasping, and the two of them stumbled back up against the trunk of one of the trees.

"Kumo, are you okay?" Kiri demanded, and paused only long enough to breathe before reaching out to wipe tears off his brother's face. "Dammit, you didn't have to take off like that—Kaze's a sonofabitch to've said that shit, but he _knows _that now and Aura's got him back there ready to apologize—"

Kumo cut him off with a kiss, clinging tightly to Kiri's shoulders as he did and whirling his brother around so that Kiri's back was up against the tree they'd collided with.

"Kumo, what the—" That was as far as Kiri got before Kumo pulled unzipped his brother's jeans, running the tips of his fingers under the waistband of his boxers. "—nn—" Though taken off-guard, Kiri readily pulled at Kumo's zipper, letting his brother pull denim and cotton down over his hips.

Trying to fight each other out of their clothing, they managed to get tangled, and toppled to the grass and mulch below, Kiri flat on his back and Kumo half on top of him. Not giving Kiri a chance to do much more than start to ask what was up with all this once again, Kumo kissed him hard and then took him in one swift motion.

They made love there, Kumo shivering and panting, Kiri tense and punctuating each gasp with a strangled curse. He must've been surprised—Kumo was normally far too submissive to take any kind of sexual initiative, _let alone _suddenly decide to be on top—and Kumo _knew _from the look on his face that he was in pain, but Kiri lay back in the grass with a tight grip on Kumo's denim-covered derriere, swearing and moaning but letting Kumo have what he wanted.

Once Kumo broke and could go no further, Kiri gently rolled him onto his back and took him in turn, finishing himself off with ragged strokes. They lay still then, steaming and panting in each other's arms, taking mental stock of the sweat and grass stains, for several minutes.

"Thank you, Niisama…" Kumo breathed at last, reaching up to brush leaves out of Kiri's long hair. "Thank you—so much."

Kiri drew and released a long breath, shivering a little where he lay with his cheek against Kumo's shoulder, not even opening his eyes. "No charge. So—you gonna tell me what this was all about now?"

Kumo blinked at him, then smiled and nuzzled close, breathing deeply of Kiri's scent and the light spicy smell of the conditioner he'd been using this morning. "…you followed me," he said at length.

"You wanted me to," Kiri pointed out sleepily.

"N-Niisama…?"

Kiri smiled against Kumo's chest. "You little idiot," he said affectionately. "Since we were little, you only ever ran away so I could chase you. I know you well enough to know that."

"…I guess you do," Kumo said softly, then kissed Kiri's forehead. "Thank you."

"Hnnh." With an effort, Kiri shrugged one shoulder, then loosely put his arms around Kumo. "Sure. Just give me some warning next time before you jump me."

Kumo stifled a giggle, then held Kiri close and let his eyes drift closed, lying still in the dappled light and darkness through the leaves of the trees. "…I will."

**Owari.**


	20. Doubt

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **20 – "Goodbyes make you realize what you've gained, what you've felt, and what you've taken for granted."

**Rating: **K+

**Summary: **Nothing is certain anymore, and Kumo finds he's now forced to question everything he and Kiri ever had.

---

Kumo lay on his side on the ruined pillar, his cheek resting on Kiri's tattered cloak, watching his brother's blood drip from his fingers and his sword and feeling the tears drying on his cheeks. The red fabric still smelled like Kiri, and it was still warm.

This had all been orchestrated by Chaos. That was clear, but—

But Kumo _still _couldn't help but feel that there'd been a grain of truth in Kiri's actions now. And even as his heart broke and his entire body _screamed _with the agony of having killed his beloved—

—A _specter, _Kumo reminded himself. Oscha's puppet. Kiri's soul and body, but not his will, _not _his real self. A torturous half-existence. He'd done the right thing. He'd given his dearest a merciful end, sent him back to his proper rest.

—But nonetheless, it had been Kiri enough for it to hurt (and, oh, _God, _it hurt), and Kiri enough for Kumo to think.

Kiri had been everything to him. He'd happily depended on his brother, fought beside him, wanted to be just like him and no better; everything Kiri was had been good enough for him. And Kiri had loved him, wholeheartedly, boundlessly. Without Kiri, Kumo would never have grown up to be the person he was; might not even have grown up at all. There was no way to know if Kumo would've had the strength to get past his constant childhood illnesses without Kiri there by his side, holding his hand all the way.

Their love had been real; it had been true. There were no two ways about it. But—

But why was it that until now, Kumo had never taken into account the kind of pressure their relationship must've put on Kiri? His brother had always wanted to be strong for him. That couldn't have been easy for him as Kumo's powers had continued to develop, as they'd discovered the truth behind those powers—Unlimited—and yet Kumo was the younger of the two of them, Kiri the one with all the responsibilities in life.

And if Kiri _had _felt the kind of jealousy Kumo had just seen, he would've tried to hide it. And that would've been torture for him.

How much of Kiri's perfect acceptance back then had been a lie?—had _any _of it, in fact, been a lie, or was this just Chaos trying to get him to doubt the best experiences of his life?

Kumo's newfound doubt of Kiri, and of himself, was horrible. If not for the grief he'd felt twelve years ago and the awful _guilt _of today, it would've been the worst thing Kumo had ever been through.

_Oh, Niisama… I wish I could just talk to you again, one more time. If only so that I could apologize for all this—and for taking what we had for granted…_

But, of course, he couldn't. And whose fault was that?

Kumo closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, stifling a bitter sob in the fabric of Kiri's cloak.

Why—_why—_when all he ever did was try his hardest—did he _always _fall short?

"…Niisama…"

**Owari.**


	21. Fabled

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **21 – "I never knew I had a dream until that dream was you."

**Rating: **K+

**Summary: **The kind of love you see in fairy tales isn't exactly commonplace. Still, Fabula's been around long enough to know it when she sees it.

---

True love.

Some people—well, a _lot _of people—she'd known said it was an oxymoron. There was passion, there was lust, there was a need for mutual consolation, but anything that was between two people was inevitably destroyed by their own humanity. Imperfections had a way of catching up with you, and once they did, everything you had flew apart as your life fell into that downward spiral.

The kind of love you found in the pages of a storybook did not, _could not _exist.

Well, when you "lived" on a separate plane, in an eternal solitude that might never be broken, it tended to be a bit of a moot point. Fabula watched the lives of others, watched humanity defy Chaos and watched Chaos unravel it, but rarely if ever was able to have any part in what she saw. With no connection, there could be no real love. She didn't have the experience to pass judgment on what other people had, either.

Still, she was sure beyond any doubt that _true love _in all its apparent impossibility was what she'd just discovered.

Mystaria was a beautiful world, a world in which the human spirit was beginning to transcend its own base and petty nature, beginning to harmonize to the eternal balance Fabula had known all those millennia ago, before Chaos had gone out of control and destroyed her beloved Lufenia. If she were left to her own choices, she would happily have watched it forever.

Unlimited souls called out to one another, so it had been inevitable that Fabula stumble upon Mystaria. The pure-hearted child born there, the little boy named Shiroi Kumo, was unmistakably Unlimited—despite the illnesses that claimed most of his youth. His innocence and beauty charmed her as they charmed most of those close to him, but she was interested in him for more than just that; more than just the circumstances of his birth. Because little Kumo—and his brother Akai Kiri…

She'd watched Kumo cling to and adore his brother with an ardor that no ordinary younger sibling possessed. She watched the way Kiri looked at Kumo change subtly, watched him become aware of the force of his desire as Kumo remained ignorant of his, watched Kiri confess the truth in one moment of blazing courage. Watched as, against the odds, Kumo accepted Kiri's unconventional love and admitted that he felt the same way.

If you'd asked Fabula before then if two separate people's lives could fit together so perfectly, she would've told you it wasn't possible. But those children—there were so many obstacles in their way: Their sex, their blood, their society, and yet somehow they turned their shared existence into an intricate waltz. A perfect dance—and any early missteps were smoothed over, forgiven, and promptly forgotten as though they'd never been made.

It was fascinating to watch. Over the years, Fabula saw their love deepen by the day, saw them become as one in body and soul, saw them exchange their promise that someday soon they would weave their lives together forever. She watched, and her disbelief was replaced with a steady warmth in her chest. Here, at last, was something that was _meant to be._

True love. To so many, it was nothing less than an unattainable dream.

To Akai Kiri and Shiroi Kumo, it was everyday life.

Watching them sleep side by side, curled intimately together against the early chill of the season, Fabula lightly touched the edge of her crystal and smiled.

Before these two precious children had been born, she'd all but buried her heart. Her existence—you couldn't call it a _life _anymore, not really—had been completely devoted to preventing Oscha from overturning the balance completely and allowing Chaos to reign for _so long, _but…

But in the innocent dreams of these young lovers, she'd had something in her—something of her old self, something of her hopes and dreams—brought back to life.

Fabula prayed that her dear Kiri and Kumo would be able to rise above the despair crushing so many worlds, so many people, and take as their own everything they'd ever wished for.

**Owari.**


	22. Wish

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **22 – "People wish upon stars because they hope that one day, those wishes will come true."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **Through the years, the words have undergone quite a few changes. Still, the sentiment behind them has always been the same.

---

I

It was late, late at night, long after a child of his age should have gone to sleep. Despite that fact, Kumo still sat up in bed, snuggled into Kiri's side as his eyes fluttered closer and closer to closed.

"Look up there—a shooting star," Kiri said suddenly, pointing with his left hand and tucking his right arm around Kumo's shoulders, holding him close and giving him a gentle shake. "Make a wish!"

Kumo half-yawned and curled a little closer, fisting his small hands in Kiri's clothes as his blurry vision traced the bright streak of light across the blue-black night sky. He already _had _everything he wanted. So what was there to wish for?

Oh—of course…

"I made one," he announced sleepily, burying his face in his brother's side.

He heard Kiri's light laugh, knew his brother was starting to say something, but youth and exhaustion caught up with him, and he slipped into sleep before he could try to listen.

II

Still a little sore although the worst of his aches had been soothed away by the hot water and Kiri's ministrations, Kumo levered himself out of the bath, shivering for a moment before he was able to wrap himself in a towel, drying his body down as vigorously as he dared.

He heard the water sloshing behind him and knew that Kiri had shifted to stretch out lengthwise across the tub, then the sigh as his brother rested back against the stone rim. Kumo smiled to himself. After an entire day's difficult practice and the past few hours' lounging and lovemaking, it was understandable that Kiri would want to relax alone in the hot water for a moment or two longer.

As for Kumo, he crossed the room in slightly unsteady strides—his legs seemed unusually weak beneath him—into their bedroom, then gave in and flopped onto the bed he and Kiri shared, breathing in his own scent and his brother's and what lingered of their sex, his eyes lifting as he gazed out the window.

There was the steady sound of dripping, then a staggered splash of a large amount of water hit the floor. Kumo blinked and turned to see Kiri leaning against the doorframe—still stark naked, with thin rivulets of water coursing over his shoulders and down the lines and angles of his body—casually squeezing water out of his long hair. Apparently deciding he'd gotten enough, he shook his hands disinterestedly, wiped them on his bare thighs, and crossed the room in strides just as tired as Kumo's had been, collapsing on the bed right next to him.

They curled together, skin to skin. The physical contact felt good—warmth still lingered in their bodies after the bath they'd taken together, but as they dried and the air cooled them down, they'd need to stay curled close as they slept—though neither was in the condition for sex. In fact, Kiri shifted, murmured, put his arms around his lover, and closed his eyes—and was instantly asleep.

Kumo smiled at Kiri and lightly stroked his brother's damp hair, then leaned back in the wreckage of the bed linens and gazed out the window again, staring up at the stars. They were so bright…

III

"Here—come on, I'll help you stand…"

Kumo managed a thin gasp, then accepted Kiri's arm up. They'd both been hurt in the last skirmish, although Kumo's wounds were minor and Kiri insisted that his weren't bothering him very much. Still, it took more effort than either would admit to for them to get across the room to the window.

As they stared out into the bitter storm that was tearing Mystaria apart at the seams, Kiri's protective arm around Kumo's waist got a little tighter; Kumo leaned into Kiri's shoulder and shivered, suddenly very deeply afraid. He needed to cling to Kiri's side, if only to keep that fear at bay.

"I'll protect you," he heard Kiri promising faintly. "I swear it. I'll protect you, always…"

Kumo just looked up, gazing into the clouds that screened the sky from their view.

It was night out. Even if they couldn't see them there, the stars _were _still above the cutting winds.

Holding tightly to his beloved, Kumo closed his eyes and prayed.

IV

"But _I don't understand—," _Kumo was crying, shaking his head and fisting his hands in front of his chest, distraught and falling apart and on the edge of hysteria as he tried desperately to hold himself together. "No—I just, I… I…!"

Aura and her brother, the stoic warrior, just looked at him for a moment. Then Aura sighed and halfway smiled, and walked back over to him.

He didn't know what to expect from her; he'd been her enemy until only recently, after all, and her brother and her strange guardian (gone now—and _why?)_ surely hated him still. For all Kumo knew, she'd hit him, the same way she'd hit her brother when he wouldn't lower his gun, stop fixing it so determinedly on Kumo's heart—

Aura reached up, and Kumo flinched away—

And amazingly, she put her hand on his head and roughly, gently tousled his hair, still smiling that same sad smile.

"Don't worry," she told him softly, fiercely, giving his hair one last ruffle and then letting her hand trail down the side of her face, wiping his tears away with a firm yet delicate gesture. "Honey, everything's going to be alright. Oniisan and I… we know what we're doing."

"But—"

"I—I hate people," Aura said, cutting him off. She'd let her hand rest on his cheek, and she was moving her thumb back and forth over his skin in a comforting stroke. "They're selfish… cold. They live in complete disregard for anyone but themselves, and in the world I live in, individual lives are seen as having very little value. From what you're saying—it's not like your home. I hate—the society that made me their sacrifice, that took my gentle big brother away and made him a killer. But—the people of Windaria don't deserve this death. As long as we are alive, things can and will change. There's still hope that things will be better, in the future. And besides…" Aura removed her hand from his face and touched her chest as the wind tossed her hair and made the empty holsters on her belt slap against her hips. "This world itself is blameless. So… because I love this world, and because no more lives should be lost… do you understand?"

"I…" No more lives. The pain of Kiri's loss, so fresh, so horrible, seared Kumo's chest, and the tears were back, no matter how he struggled to repress them. "…I…!"

"It'll be okay," Aura told him fiercely, her smile going determined. "Oniisan and I… we'll protect you. Don't worry about a thing…"

"…let's go," her brother said where he was standing and waiting, impassive and impatient.

As they stood together in defiance of the monster destroying their world, their Windaria, Kumo blinked the tears back and stared up into the sky at Chaos' twisted body.

Around the monster's outlines, Kumo could see the stars. For whatever reason, they'd never seemed brighter.

V

Reeling with the pain, Kumo sat curled into a ball on the very edge of Gaudium, at the end of the precipice he'd claimed for the times those foul people's presence got to be too much. He held Kiri's tattered cloak tightly to his chest, hugging it close, breathing in his brother's scent, not caring that spots of his brother's blood were rubbing off onto his clothes, dirtying them.

He _hated—_and he was so _confused—_

_Niisama… ah…_

Shuddering, Kumo clung to the last remnant of his dear Kiri as the horrible mockery of the brother he'd fallen in love with and what had passed between them rang through his mind like Kaze's lightning gunfire.

By the time he looked up, night was falling. Through his tears, Kumo saw the bright glare of the stars, and then he buried his face in Kiri's cloak with a sob.

VI

Hougekiju—the beast that was Kaze's life—fired its beam of brilliant light, and Kumo was only just able to check Chaos' response long enough that it wasn't enough to dispel it. They collided—a brush of souls—and then everything, _everything_ began to fade…

The horrible pain that wracked his body, from the wound his own sword had made through his belly—the soul-wrenching agony of Chaos' being, infused with his body, his heart—Kaze's judging light melted it all away, until there was only peace, and sadness, and exhaustion.

For a moment, he heard Kaze calling for him, and thought he replied. The next, he was falling endlessly, endlessly, and Kumo realized distantly that they'd been at Gaudium for a long time, because night was beginning to fall, and the stars—the _stars—_

VII

"…so really, I just wanted to thank you again for helping us with everything back on Sadogashima," Yu was saying, leaning back against Silvia's thick window.

Kumo shook his head graciously. "No—it's not a problem. You children may be our greatest hope in this battle, and everyone knows it… protecting you was…" Was _what?, _he asked himself. Not a duty. A—pleasure? No, that wasn't the right word, either.

Yu sensed his hesitance, and just smiled. "It's fine. No matter what you say, we _are _grateful."

"…" Kumo looked down. Ai was draped over the floor and half of his lap, out cold; Crux, seeking respite from her wearying search for Gaudium, was lying in the space between her head and Kumo's belly. How was it, he wondered helplessly, that after he was supposed to have learned his lesson about caring—everyone he'd ever loved had eventually died because he was Unlimited—that so many people had become so dear to him here?

"Oh—" Yu had turned towards the outside, and was watching something in the sky with deep fascination. "Look! It's a shooting star!" As Kumo blinked up at him, then glanced out to see that there was indeed a faint streak of light against the horizon, Yu turned back to him with a bright smile. "Make a wish, Makenshi!"

Kumo could've cried.

Instead, he looked back at that blaze of light, closed his eyes, and searched his heart. Not that he needed to: Although the words had been different each time, through the passing of each part of his life… it really _had _always been the same, hadn't it?

_I wish…_

**Owari.**


	23. PDA

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **23 – "We're so weird. That's what I like about us, actually."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **Sometimes the best thing about having a relationship that scares people… is the scaring people part, actually.

---

People were whispering. Kiri could hear it well, although he couldn't hear what they were saying, and could feel their stares on his back.

There were a lot today. Usually, there were just one or two people who looked askance when he and Kumo walked down the street arm in arm, but today it seemed like _everyone _was giving them disapproving glares.

Well, honestly. Hadn't these sidewalk voyeurs ever seen two guys going out before?

…apparently not.

To tell the truth, Kiri found it a little bit annoying. They shouldn't concern themselves with what their tiny brains weren't capable of processing—and didn't _they _have lives to worry about, too?—but here they were, staring away and hissing to each other like he and Kumo were diseased or something.

Hmph.

"N-Niisama…" Kumo whispered, and stepped a little closer. Kiri's annoyance peaked, and he put his arm around Kumo's shoulders, hugging his baby brother to his body. Dammit, they should _not _have dragged Kumo into this. It looked like he was going to have to break some heads…

Or maybe not. Starting to smile mischievously, Kiri leaned in and set his lips almost to Kumo's ear. "What do you say we give these assholes something to stare at?"

"Eh…?" Kumo blinked up at his brother, not understanding right away, and Kiri leaned in and kissed him deeply.

"Hhn—…" Kumo shivered and then surrendered, leaning back in Kiri's supportive embrace. "Uhhn… mmn."

"…" Kiri tilted Kumo back a little further, breaking off the kiss to nibble at the soft part of his brother's throat while Kumo gasped and shivered and pushed his hips up against Kiri's in an involuntary, desirous motion.

_"—!!" _As Kiri went on, hands and lips working at every sensitive bit of skin his clothes left exposed, Kumo arched back, fisting his hands in the back of Kiri's shirt.

Making soft soothing sounds, Kiri pulled back, wrapped his arms around Kumo's waist, and lifted him up into the air, bringing him back down with aching slowness as they began to kiss again, their bodies pressed together viciously, grinding Kumo's hips against Kiri's belly, his side, his hip. When Kumo's feet were on the ground again, they were clamped up tightly against each other, Kiri's thigh between Kumo's legs, both of them moaning low and trembling with sheer _want._

Taking a deep breath, Kiri pulled back, and both of them panted for air dizzily. Kiri took the chance to look around.

All the onlookers seemed to have mysteriously vanished at some point during his and Kumo's unabashed display of love and raw need. Turning to see that the previously cluttered sidewalk was now entirely deserted, Kiri smirked.

"Well, that takes care of _them."_

Kumo answered with a giddy, breathless laugh as he flopped into Kiri's chest. "Hmmn. Hee, if only they knew the half of it…"

"Yeah—if being _gay _scares them that much, I wonder how they'd react to the incest bit?" Kiri shook his head and attempted to look tragic. _"Why _is it that we can't so much as take a walk nowadays without leaving a trail of broken brains in our wake?"

"But, _Niisama, _it's _fun _to scar conservatives for life," Kumo whimpered, looking up at Kiri with big eyes and a small smile.

Kiri laughed and put his arm around Kumo's shoulders again. "C'mon, Kumo… let's go home."

**Owari.**


	24. Courage

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **24 – "Being deeply loved gives you strength; deeply loving someone gives you courage."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **If he'd been thinking, Kumo would've been terrified. Fortunately, the immediacy of Kiri in danger pushed all capacity for rational thought out the window.

---

_"Niisama!"_

He didn't think. There wasn't _time _for him to think. All he saw was Kiri sprawled half-conscious and the monsters that were gathering through the dusk, eyeing the delirious Mystarian hungrily. All he knew was terror, and fury.

And refusal.

Kumo ran faster than he knew he was capable of running, his hands at his sword and his body gearing up for a leap long before he was there, and then he vaulted over Kiri's body and _slashed, _feeling his shoulders jerk with pain that he ignored completely.

And then blood was spraying through the air, and Kumo felt nothing but outrage where there should've been horror and gut-tearing remorse. He killed, and he killed with precision and he killed with abandon and he reveled in the beasts' screams and dying throes and the crunch of bone as his Maken cleaved cleanly through it, over and over again.

At last, he stood still amidst the raining blood and the monsters' corpses as those few that remained alive fled. Mildly annoyed, Kumo shook red droplets out of his hair and off his face, and wagged his sword in the air until it was reasonably clean. He'd have to get fixed up later. (And maybe then, there'd be time to feel sick with what he'd just done. If ever.)

But that would all have to wait for later. Because all that mattered now was…

"Niisama…"

Kumo knelt down, put gentle hands to Kiri's shoulders, then touched his brother's fevered brow lightly. Kiri's skin was burning, and when he opened his eyes to look up at Kumo with a faint moan, they were glassy. He was so desperately ill—they should have tried harder to keep him at home, Kumo knew. Maybe it was high past time that they see if Kiri could survive an affront to his pride.

Still, it wasn't the time for such thoughts. As Kumo leaned down, Kiri moaned again and shuddered, closing his eyes again.

"Niisama, let's get you out of here…"

As Kumo gently pulled Kiri into a sitting position, he felt his brother's arms come loosely around him with a slight shock. Kiri was—_clinging, _when normally he would rather have died than so much as lean on a proffered shoulder. He really _was _sick. He was shivering, and dizzy, and his fever was still climbing, and here he was hanging onto his little brother for dear life…

Emotions, rushing and vibrant and violent and soul-shaking, swept through Kumo's heart, and he leaned in to gently kiss Kiri's cheek. "Come on," he said very gently, coaxing Kiri to his feet with his arm across Kumo's shoulders. "Let's get you home."

**Owari.**


	25. Life

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **25 – "To fear love is to fear life."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **Falling in love, and all the messes that come with it, is scary. Luckily, you can't always be afraid of living. Having someone to answer your questions helps, too.

---

"So, what's with all this all of a sudden?" Arashi asked, leaning back against the pillows and looking at Kumo with upraised eyebrows.

"I… I'm not sure." Kumo sank down against the comforter, crossing his feet in the air and fidgeting with his fingertips. "I guess I'm just a little nervous."

They were silent for a while, staring at each other across the bed. From outside the nearly-closed door, they could hear the racket of the party still going on downstairs. The other girls were clamoring for the sweets that were almost ready, and discussing boys, movies, and fashion in hushed and giddy voices. Arashi had come up here to change, and Kumo had followed her—she'd thought to escape their attentions (both of them hoped they'd forget about the facial they'd promised him—he'd consented to the manicure and pedicure and his nails looked really cute done up the color of his eyes, but _really…), _but it seemed he'd actually had some pressing questions in mind.

"I-I don't know _why _I am, though," Kumo said suddenly, sinking down further. "Niisama and I have both been wanting this for so long, I shouldn't worry… but now…"

Arashi leaned over to ruffle his soft white hair. "Honey, this is a _huge _step. He probably won't tell you to your face, but Kiri's probably just as scared as you are. More, even. I bet he's worried he'll hurt you by accident."

Kumo played with the comforter a little more. "Can I, uh… ask a couple of questions?" His voice got very small, and he started blushing. "I know I shouldn't, it's personal, but it's just—you and Hoshi have already… and…" He hid his face against the blankets, embarrassed.

"It's fine." Arashi didn't have any qualms with discussing that kind of thing with a close friend, especially if it would help ease Kumo's nerves a little. "Go on and ask."

"What's it—like?" Kumo asked in a tiny voice. "Does it… really hurt that much, or…"

"It hurts a little bit at first," Arashi said, shrugging one shoulder. "For a girl, it's more arbitrary. Y'know, if you bleed, it'll hurt; if you don't, it won't. It's not as bad as, say, getting a papercut or something. It's worse for someone in your position, because it's more likely than not it _will_ hurt. Kiri'll be careful, though. You'll be okay. Besides, it'll be worth it."

"…" The look in Kumo's eyes said he wanted to believe her, but he was still worried.

"Heck, Hoshi and I still joke about how we got ourselves so worked up and then the actual pain was a letdown." Arashi shook her head and grinned. "However bad you feel the first couple times, trust me when I say it will all be more than worth it in the end."

"…really?"

"You touch yourself because it feels good," Arashi told him, "and people will tell you that actual sex is like that, but it's not; it's better. Both because it's someone else touching you, and because they're touching you because they love you and they want you. It's you and the person you love, coming as close as you can to becoming one." Allowing herself a slow, feline smile, Arashi leaned back into the pillows. "And when he's inside you, it's the best feeling in the world."

"…" Kumo was blushing, but she could tell he was really thinking about what she was trying to say, taking her words into account. It was cute, how serious he was.

"Well, anyway, of course you're scared shitless. Anybody would be." Sitting up again, Arashi pulled off her shirt and rooted through the pillows for her pajama top, stopping for a moment to hitch up her bra. Kumo was sitting there watching and everything, but it's not like she cared—the boy was _flaming; _her boobs meant about as much as her elbows to him. "But you'll be fine. You were scared shitless when you first fell in love with Kiri, too. Love's a roller coaster, but it's part of life, and even though it's a documented fact that life's insane, you can't be afraid of living forever."

At this, Kumo smiled. "…I guess you're right."

"You'll be _fine," _Arashi told him, finally finding her top and pulling it on. "You and Kiri are so ridiculously stupid in love. Once you take the plunge, so to speak, you'll be unable to keep your hands off each other for three seconds at a time, trust me."

Kumo squeaked and buried his face in the bed, giggling still. _"Arashi!"_

"Mm. As for some more practical advice—you don't have to worry about getting pregnant, and you and Kiri are both virgins, so you don't really have to use condoms, but you _should _go pick up some massage oil. Though I may not have the first-hand experience to back it up, I _do _know that for guys it's going to hurt either way, but it'll be a _hell _of a lot worse if you don't use lubricant."

Kumo made some indistinct embarrassed sound and fidgeted again.

"Trust me," Arashi said lightly, grinning and reaching out to tousle his hair playfully.

Kumo made more indistinct embarrassed sounds to the general effect that if he didn't, he wouldn't be talking to her about any of this.

Laughing, Arashi leaned down and kissed the top of Kumo's head. "Now, if that's all, c'mon—we should get back downstairs before everybody else starts wondering what we're doing."

Kumo sat up, flush-faced, and nodded, sighing. "Okay. And—thanks."

Arashi just looked at him, this sweet and shy boy, a virgin both afraid of and eagerly awaiting the sexual initiation that was quickly approaching him. And she smiled and shook her head.

"My pleasure."

**Owari.**


	26. Kiss

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **26 – "Kiss; a lovely trick designed by nature for when words become unnecessary."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **There are times when Kiri and Kumo can go hours without needing to say a single word to each other. All they need to do to communicate is touch.

---

There was a balance between comforting regularity and spontaneity that maintained their delicate dance, that allowed Kumo to _feel _where Kiri was at all times of the day as they crossed the house back and forth along their separate duties.

Sometimes they never seemed to stop talking, their sentences spilling over each other until they couldn't understand a word either one said and they broke off laughing. Sometimes they didn't need to say anything. Today, things seemed to be the latter.

Drifting along and knowing each other's movements, they spent the day in silence, spreading warmth through their nearness, conveying love with a glance and a glowing smile.

And even when they slid together as though by some miracle between coincidence and prior planning, words were never necessary.

Kumo rested his hands on Kiri's shoulders, stood on tiptoe, and softly brushed his lips against his brother's. Kiri traced his along Kumo's cheek, then put his arms around Kumo's slighter frame, pulling their bodies closer as he caught Kumo's lips with his, kissing lightly and still more lightly until their touch was little more than the flutter of a butterfly's wing. Then he leaned in, clamped his mouth hard over Kumo's in hot but controlled demand, both of them shivering and moaning distantly. With a delighted quiver, Kumo let his lips part, yielding up his mouth almost thoughtlessly for Kiri's advance.

They kissed sweetly, viciously, lovingly, voraciously; hands tight on clothes and hearts enveloped in soft warmth and minds definitely wandering towards vague thoughts of the soft bed and the tangle of bodies that awaited them later today. Then Kiri pulled back a hair's breadth, sighed into Kumo's lips, then kissed his cheek and his forehead, and Kumo settled against Kiri's chest with a smile, closing his eyes.

It was amazing, all you could convey without speaking. What was a voice, after all, when love and touch and silence made words obsolete?

**Owari.**


	27. Chivalry

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **27 – "It's not that I want to have you. I want to deserve you."

**Rating: **K+

**Summary: **It's not so much that Kiri suffers from a lack of common sense… it's more that he's afflicted with the stupidity of romanticism.

---

"That's _enough, _Kiri. That's more than enough. Keep going in your condition, and your body isn't going to be able to take it," Sora called from the sidelines, angry and concerned.

Kiri shook his head from where he knelt bent double in the middle of the practice field, panting desperately and hoping he wouldn't pass out just yet. "No—'m fine—next one, please."

"Fevers do _not _go away with work, and even were that _not _the case, you're all in. By all rights you should be in bed right now," Sora said pointedly, glaring at him. "I told your mother to let you come here knowing that a _little _bit of exercise would help you calm down, and under the impression that you would know better than to do anything stupid. Do not make a fool of me, Madoushi Kiri." She was calling him by his full use-name. She _was _mad. Still…

"Just—this one more, Sensei," Kiri called back. "Just one more, and I'll go sit down somewhere. I'm not getting any stronger sitting on the sidelines."

Sora rolled her eyes, sighed, and groaned, but obviously saw that he'd dug his heels in and wouldn't be budged on the issue. She turned to her other students and called out for Kiri's next opponent to take his place in the circle of the field.

Kiri dragged himself up into a ready position, clenching his hands on the hilt of his Maken to make them stop shaking. Sora had paired him up this time with a younger student, one still using a shinai instead of a soul-sword. Ordinarily, kids like him were nervous when they were looking at him across the practice field, but this one seemed confident. Probably because Kiri was tired, and because he was sick. Still, Kiri'd be damned if he was going to bow down to a kid whose shinai was so fresh you could still smell the sap on it.

He waited for the call to fight, then gritted his teeth, tensed up his muscles, and melted through the air as his opponent rushed him.

His arms ached, and his skin was prickling with weakness, but Kiri held himself steady through the annoying signs of his illness and matched swords with the youngster in a series of tight, well-practiced blows. In the eyes of his opponent, Kiri saw new respect begin to shine.

Still, a determination that almost mirrored his own clamped down in them, and the boy lunged forward in a dramatic sweep, his shinai smacking Kiri along the ribs.

Kiri choked back his gasp of pain, dodged under the kid's sword in his second strike, and slammed the base of his Maken into his diaphragm. The kid made a surprised noise, dropped his sword, and fell heavily to the ground.

Gasping, drenched in sweat, Kiri stood and walked a few paces away, nearly losing his grip on his Maken and putting one hand to his forehead. His head _hurt—_

The world very suddenly went blue, then green, and then the ground tilted alarmingly and everything went black.

The next thing Kiri knew, people were bending over him, calling him worriedly, and he felt cool hands on his forehead and his throat and shoulders, bracing him and gauging his fever and checking his pulse. With a low, hazy moan, Kiri opened his eyes, and Kumo's face, pale with anxiety, swam into view.

"Niisama?!"

"…ugh." With an effort, Kiri moved his arm until he was able to clasp his little brother's hand weakly. Kumo's eyes filled with tears, although he squeezed his eyes shut and willed them back.

"Kiri, you little _fool." _This was Sora, on his other side. "I _told _you that you were tapped out. _Why _do you hold yourself incapable of listening to sense?" She turned to the onlookers. "You, you, and you—come with me; we have to find Kohaku. If we try to move him, he'll just pass out again."

"Why…?" Kumo was whispering, holding his hand tightly. "Niisama, you're so sick, but you still… why did you…?"

Kiri shook his head very slightly. The movement still made him dizzy. "I have to get stronger…"

Confusion creased Kumo's forehead. "Niisama… d-don't tell me you still mean all that, about becoming the best in our world…"

Kiri just looked up at his beloved little brother—skilled, but still young, still learning, so terribly vulnerable—and smiled.

"Well… something like that, I guess."

**Owari.**


	28. Powerful

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **28 – "No three words have a greater power than 'I love you'."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **And that was all it took, really, to pull Kiri back from a dangerous road.

---

"Niisama—"

Who knew if Kiri even heard him? Between the bloody kisses the razorblade had left along his arms, the insides of his thighs, his belly and chest and the side of his throat—those, and the half-bottle's worth of sleeping pills and painkillers.

But as Kumo knelt there on the cold hospital floor, his head resting on his arms as he leaned against the starched white bed and stared into his brother's face, he thought he saw Kiri's eyes flicker.

"Niisama…"

It could've been any one of a number of things. The pressure of living, of working, of learning. The shrill insults their mother had thrown at Kiri during their last tumultuous argument. The self-hatred and despair that constantly ate at his heart.

The lingering bruises on his body, and on Kumo's, and the fears of what that upperclassman might have done if Aura hadn't arrived, hadn't helped to fight him off.

"Niisama, please…"

Through the tubes, Kiri gave a weary, resigned sigh.

Kumo reached out, touched his brother's face lovingly, pushed his hair back. He knew what Kiri thought he was going to say, knew that those words would have little to no effect. Condemnations, pleas and bargains, wouldn't help Kiri at all. Kumo looked at him and understood, really understood what it was that had pushed Kiri to the brink, to where he'd felt as though he had no other choice.

He didn't need to be yelled at, scolded, fed one string of antidepressants after another, put through rigorous and trying therapies. What Kiri _needed _was a lifeline.

"Niisama…" Kumo hesitated, then kissed his fingertips, touched them delicately to Kiri's cheek. "…I love you."

And with those three words—just three words, when lectures and briefings on his condition and where he was headed hadn't been able to do anything—Kiri's eyes filled with tears, and he started to shake.

He reached out, took Kumo's hand, and held it hard.

Blinking back tears of his own, Kumo smiled.

**Owari.**


	29. Lovechild

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **29 – "Nothing is more beautiful than a love that has survived the weathered journey of life."

**Rating: **K+

**Summary: **There's nothing quite like a day in the park for a little boy. Open skies, long slides, puppy love, and… parents making out on the bench? At least his friends think it's cute.

---

It was the middle of fall, and the playground was filled with small children running in different directions, chased by parents or playmates or older siblings, queuing up for the slide and the monkey bars or the swings.

There was one couple, however, not out actively pursuing their child.

Their son was out there, they knew, playing with his two best friends—blonde, blue-eyed sisters, the elder of which was his first crush (and knew it, and enjoyed taking advantage of him for it), the younger of which was apparently suffering her first crush on him (and it really _shouldn't _have been precious how he was entirely oblivious, but they winced and laughed as they watched her follow him everywhere with starry eyes). But where other parents worried to an obsessive degree that their precious babies would pick up a scrape or a bruise or (the horror) a splinter, they remembered and understood that to receive small hurts in the pursuit of play was the way of youth.

They also trusted that if he _did _get some hurt out of the ordinary, he would come to them so that they could take car of it. (Seven he might be, but sense was one of the boy's virtues.)

So knowing, they were content to sit back and lean on each other and watch, smiling.

"It makes you wonder, a little… how our parents ever did this," Kumo said quietly, snuggling into Kiri's shoulder. "It's that tiring."

"Maybe so." Kiri leaned over, planted a kiss on Kumo's forehead. "Still, I know we could never've made any other choice."

"Hmmn." Winding slightly chilly fingers into his lover and partner's jacket, Kumo tilted his face up for Kiri's kiss.

If there were a few fine lines on their faces that hadn't been there a few years ago, what did it matter? With age came grace, and with that grace, a different kind of beauty. If their discussions today focused as much on their child and his life as on their own, they didn't notice. If their nights were less passionate, it was because they'd come to realize that sleeping curled together with their son between them was just as precious and much more important.

And, anyway, they couldn't pretend they were young anymore.

Still, what had once been tempestuous and passionate between them had remained, and changed, strengthened—become eternal.

---

Out on the playground, Stella elbowed him and giggled.

"They're at it again," she proclaimed almost wickedly, pointing.

He turned, saw, pushed his hands through his soft white hair, and tried not to groan. It wasn't as though he minded when they got all silly and kissy at _home, _but when they were out in _public _and Stella was there to pick on him about it—

"Jeez, just look at 'em go." Stella kept giggling. "Nobody _else's _mom and dad are like that. Hee."

Turning with a flounce of her shiny blonde hair, she danced off through the woodchips.

He groaned again, closed his deep green eyes and rubbed them. _Man, _parents could be so—

There was a shy tug at his sleeve, and he blinked and looked down at where Shirley was standing at his elbow, smiling at him, her face flushed (from the chill?).

"I… think it's nice," she said softly, turning her smile back on his parents. "That they're still in love, I mean… not a lot of people have that."

Touched and momentarily distracted from the utter mortification of the girl of his seven-year-old dreams witnessing his parents being publicly affectionate, he blushed a little and smiled at her and took her hand for a moment.

The next, Stella was making a sulky face at them and doing an impatient jig further down the playground. "Come _on," _she called, pointing up ahead. "The slide's open! Are you coming or what?!"

Their moment half-forgotten, the two of them chased after her in answer.

**Owari.**


	30. Selfless

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **30 – "Love is when you would willingly give up everything if it meant they would smile."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **There's something almost terrifying about being loved that deeply. But Kumo couldn't put words to it if he tried.

---

Kiri only allowed him to have the finest things.

Satin and linen for his bedclothes. Silk and lace in the barest bits of cover against his skin. Bright and glittering jewels to rest upon and highlight the delicate contours of his throat, his hands. The richest and most delicate samplings of fine cuisine.

It almost made him uncomfortable, Kiri's dogged determination that he should want for nothing. He protested, often, that it was too much, that he would settle for far less.

Kiri would just look at him, and Kumo would know that it was hopeless.

Money. Time. Affection. Whatever Kumo needed, Kiri was there with it, no matter how it drained at him. His own needs and his wants fell by the wayside so many times that Kumo had to beg him to look to himself, reassure him that _his _happiness was what was most important at those times.

Kiri gave, and gave, and gave—so much so that Kumo was deeply afraid that he would end up with nothing at all—and all he asked for in return was Kumo's love.

Kumo offered it freely, along with his body. The only time they seemed on equal footing was when they strained to become as one.

Kiri always seemed to be holding out the best of the world for him to take.

Kumo would've given it all up in an instant if it meant that Kiri would forget his disregard of himself and just be happy again.

**Owari.**


	31. Date

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **31 – "You have to walk carefully at the beginning of love. The running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later, when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip."

**Rating: **K

**Summary: **Kiri's spent more than enough time worrying to himself about whether he's being too forward or not. It's time to reach out and take Kumo's hand. If he can manage that.

---

Movies and books and manga, Kiri decided then, were sellouts.

Sure, they spent plenty of time talking about how relationships developed and how people fell in love. But what they _didn't _show was what happened when the story was over, when the shot faded out and slipped into the credits. They _didn't _tell you what the Happily Ever After was supposed to be like, or what couples were supposed to _do _once they fell in love.

And because Kiri had depended heavily on movies and books and manga to get this far, he blamed them wholeheartedly for the fact that he had no idea what he was supposed to do right now.

Damn it.

He'd _really _wanted to see this movie, and now he couldn't pay attention to it at all. He'd spend five seconds or so with his mind on the screen, and then it would be back to Kumo sitting next to him, wondering if now was when he was supposed to reach out and touch him or not.

Seriously, that was half the reason couples went to movies, right? So that they could cuddle through them, as much as see the flick. But here he was, his hand still on the armrest of his seat, unable even to look over at Kumo, with no idea how he was supposed to get to the hand-holding part.

Kiri drummed his fingers restlessly on the fabric, inching his hand towards Kumo's armrest. He had to do _something, _after all. And even as hopeless as he was, he knew that the fake yawn/force-cuddle was the ultimate movie faux pas.

So what in the holy hell was he supposed to—

Before Kiri could finish that thought or even curse himself any further, his hand bumped into something.

"Ah—"

And he turned, wide-eyed, to see that Kumo was also staring at him, surprised and blushing, their hands having hit each other while they'd been in the middle of trying to do the same thing.

After that slight awkward pause, Kiri smiled and turned his palm over. With a grateful little smile in return, Kumo slipped his own into it, and their fingers intertwined.

**Owari.**


	32. Separation

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **32 – "Love knows not its own depths until the hour of separation."

**Rating: **K

**Summary: **Kiri used to hold a certain disbelief for the heroes in stories who'd cross oceans and walk through fire to save their loved ones. Not anymore. (Kokoro no Hanashi)

---

"Okay, just stop right now. Otherwise you're going to give yourself permanent brain damage from thinking so hard."

Kiri blinked and looked up, then gave Fabula a halfhearted scowl as she sat down next to him.

"So what's bothering you?" she asked simply, leaning forward with her elbows crossed on her knees, giving him a sidelong glance.

"I was just…" Kiri sighed, then stared out over the plains. "You know how in fairy tales and epics and all kinds of other stories, the hero's always swearing he'll do all but walk on water to save the girl? Stuff like that really used to get on my nerves; I'd always just think it was so cliché. But now…"

"Now?" Fabula prompted him, lightly poking him in the shoulder.

"Now, I…" Kiri glared down at his hands. "Now I think I get it, at least a little. 'Cause I'd do anything to have Kumo back. _Anything."_

Fabula reached out, tousled his hair.

"…I understand."

**Owari.**


	33. Hangover

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **33 – "Right now, I can't remember yesterday, and I don't care about tomorrow. This moment is all that matters."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **Later, Kiri would remember that day as the moment he Finally Swore Off Alcohol, Forever. And then he'd smile.

---

Kiri opened his eyes and frowned up at the ceiling. He was confused, because the last he remembered, he'd been in the ballroom, sandwiched between some emissary from another city and his parents.

Then the pain hit: Awful, ripping agony that seared across his forehead, throbbing like a crazed drummer finishing out an overblown solo.

_"Fuck." _It was out of his mouth before he knew he was going to say it. He lay there for a second longer, considered the ceiling, and decided it was a very accurate assessment of his morning so far. Accurate enough to merit repeating, which he did, significantly louder and with much more venom: _**"**__**Fuck**__**."**_

With a groan, he turned to the bedside table, first taking in the clock (which pronounced that it was just past noon), then staring puzzledly at the glass of water and scattered pills next to it. There was a note taped to the glass, in his mother's handwriting. It was in red ink, and looked angry.

_You are SO grounded for the next year. I told you to stop drinking._

Oh.

Well.

Pushing himself up, Kiri swiped the pills off the table—there were three aspirin, and two of those little pink caplets he remembered from when Kumo'd had some kind of stomach flu seven years ago. Deciding that he didn't care if he was grounded, his mother was _still _the most thoughtful person on the planet, he tossed them all back and chased them down with water. His head was pounding like no one's business and his stomach was starting to twist, but with any luck the drugs would kick in soon and he'd be able to function without wincing at every noise or throwing up.

Sighing, Kiri sank back against the bed.

_Never again, _he resolved. _Never. Never ever ever ever EVER. I am never drinking again. It's just not fucking worth it._

There was a muted moan beside him, and the arms he hadn't known were around his waist reeled him a little closer to Kumo.

He was still asleep, Kiri saw, although Kiri's motion was making him stir. He showed no signs of having drunk anything (thank God), but his face was lightly flushed and there were bright marks like pink rose petals tracing down his throat and over his chest, probably straight down his body. Both of them were, Kiri noticed then, blissfully naked.

Well. Well. Despite himself, Kiri felt himself starting to smile. At least last night hadn't completely sucked. …Even if he couldn't remember it all yet.

Kumo made another soft sound of protest and cuddled close. Kiri privately thanked the booze binge when he realized Kumo's thigh was now curled lightly around his waist, and that his brother's groin was pressed _hard _into his belly. It was so cripplingly arousing he normally wouldn't have been able to restrain himself from rolling Kumo over, waking him with a kiss, and taking him right then and there; as it was, Kiri knew he'd definitely gotten too smashed to be able to get it up for a few more hours yet. And Kumo just looked so cute that deeply asleep; it would be a shame to have to wake him.

Very, very lightly, Kiri leaned in and kissed Kumo's cheek, then eased back against the pillows, lifting up his hand so he could see the white gold ring with its tiny ruby on his finger.

Kiri considered it, and Kumo, sleepily, then smiled a little.

Hangover or no hangover, he was the luckiest bastard to ever be born on Mystaria.

With the headache starting to die and the nausea soon to follow it, Kiri closed his eyes, stroked Kumo's hair, and went straight back to sleep.

**Owari.**


	34. Dream

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **34 – "When you love someone, it's something. When someone loves you, it's another thing. When you love the person who loves you back, it's everything."

**Rating: **K+

**Summary: **It's a wonderful thing to love and be loved. Some say it's like a waking dream. To Kiri, it seemed more like his life up 'til then was the dream, and love woke him up.

---

The great romantics always had a lot to say on the subject of love. They termed it life's breath, the greatest treasure, the eternal waking dream.

As for Kiri, he looked at it a lot more pragmatically, and with a lot less flowery prose. But more or less, he agreed with them.

There was nothing quite like your heart waking up, was there? For Kiri, it had been very slow. He hadn't realized for a long time why Kumo seemed to become more beautiful by the minute, why his laughter had begun to sound like bells chiming, why the ordinary obligation to protect his little brother from anything that possibly posed a threat had suddenly become so vicious.

Ever since that stark and disorienting realization, everything had always seemed a little brighter when Kumo was near. Everything had hurt, too, with the sharp and unforgiving edges of the truth cutting sweet slices of agony through his heart with every time it beat—not confessing his feelings was _painful._

Aching, tempestuous, undeniable, and beautiful—first love was indeed a fine thing.

When you were the object of first love that you didn't reciprocate, it was something else entirely. Flattering, but awkward, and sad, because you didn't feel the same and couldn't, no matter how much you wanted to.

Kiri might've been slow to pick up on it, but he wasn't altogether stupid. He'd eventually put together what it meant that Ame was always watching him, was so often nearby, why she always became so upset whenever she saw him affectionate with Kumo in public. He felt guilty, because he knew that if he'd been born with different sexuality, he might've found happiness with her, but as it was he wasn't capable of loving a woman in that way. Sometimes he wanted to take Ame aside and explain all this to her, gently, but he could never bring himself to, because he knew it would cause her pain, and he didn't want her to be sad—she was, after all, Kumo's friend and so his.

There wasn't anything, really, that could be done. Kiri knew that to be loved was supposed to be a good thing, but he'd come to know that it could be every bit as painful as first love or more.

But then, when you loved someone and they felt the same way…

Kiri didn't think he'd ever noticed colors, or the brightness of the stars and the daylight sky, or how wonderful it felt to simply lie back and breathe, or how acutely his skin could perceive touch or his heart feeling, until that night when he'd told Kumo the truth and Kumo'd surprised him by saying he felt the same.

Poets were forever saying that love was so blissful it was like a good dream that never ended. Kiri didn't agree with that. He'd gone the first fifteen years of his life without Kumo's love opening his eyes to the planet, so he knew well enough that life _without _love was the dream, and that being in a strong relationship was being awake.

He also knew that love wasn't effortless. He'd picked that up by now. There'd been a few snarls, a few mistakes along the way. Times when he or Kumo had been careless, and they'd hurt each other. Because they loved each other, they'd worked past it, as painful as it had been. They knew now that they could stand the little things without breaking; because they'd had to maintain their love, it was that much stronger.

But there _was _one thing Kiri and the poets and the romantics and the star-struck lovers of the world agreed upon completely.

Being loved wasn't just special and amazing and enlightening and the very wellspring of happiness: When you had someone dear to your heart, and you were dear to theirs, it meant _everything in the world._

**Owari.**


	35. Risk

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **35 – "Love is, in fact, everything it's cracked up to be. It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **Nothing else could ever have made Kumo run into the darkness. But Kiri… saving him was more than worth the risk. (Kokoro no Hanashi)

---

The darkness held a special kind of personal horror for Kumo.

He was the one, after all, who'd found himself surrounded by it with no escape, had had his heart torn away by one of its servants. Nothing could quite soothe away the fear that unless he got away now, the same could happen again.

Not the fact that he wasn't alone, not the fact that the rest of their party fought the darkness without fear. Not even the fact that Kiri was right beside him, would rather die than let anything bad happen to him.

Summoning was a temporary reprieve. And anyway, he was here, in what little light was left, protected by his companions' tight circle. Given something to concentrate on, he was fine—or would've been, had the darkness not reached out and crushed his fragile hope.

But then Kiri had…

Terror had frozen Kumo straight to the spot, and only Lisa's running past him as Kiri bowed back with that tiny pained gasp as the darkness prized his chest open had awakened him. What was he _doing? _Why was he just standing here, when the one he loved the most…

When the darkness reached out again, clutching for Kiri and Lisa, Kumo forgot that he had ever been afraid.

With his sword at the ready, he ran, leaving the light behind, seeing only what was truly important.

_"Niisama!!"_

**Owari.**


	36. Dance

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **36 – "Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt."

**Rating: **K+

**Summary: **With time comes wisdom and grace. Kumo only hopes that he and Kiri will be able to measure up, someday.

---

"How did you know? That Aura was The One, I mean," Kumo clarified hastily, leaning back against the bar.

Fabula finished the exact arc of her pivot turn and swept into a perfect arabesque, pausing five seconds with her fingertips steepled with her toes, before she relaxed, smiled at him, and shook her long hair back. "Stars in my eyes. She scared me half to death, and she put stars in my eyes. Love makes us heralds, love makes us stupid, and love makes us brave. Given that I always hit three of three whenever she was around and that whenever she left the room I caught myself taking a deep breath like I'd forgotten I needed air in her presence, I doubted it could've been anything else."

"Really…?" Kumo sat back on the bar and watched a few other dancers practicing a few eight-counts in unison. "But, you'd loved people before, and it hadn't worked out, so…?"

"It's different for everyone, I think, but when the time comes, you know. You just can't picture the rest of your life without them. That's the way it is for you and Kiri, after all."

"But, that's different—Niisama's the first and only person I've ever loved," Kumo protested. "I don't think I could ever have the strength to do what you've done—and keep trying again and again until you find the right person."

Fabula gave him a brief wide-eyed stare, then shook her head and smiled.

"Love's worth it, dear. It takes that kind of courage—the kind that's in everyone, whether they know it or not. Finding that strength is a lot like learning to dance… and learning how to pretend that you and the mirror are the only ones there to see." She stretched. "Any mistakes you make are a lot easier to take that way, when you don't focus on how everyone must've seen."

"Really…"

"As for Aura, it probably helped a lot that my heart, hormones, and everything else had the good sense to fling me at a lesbian, for once. Many of the other girls I've liked have, unfortunately, been completely straight. I mean, it's a shame they've missed out on all of this—" she posed demonstratively "—but what can you do?"

Kumo covered a giggle.

"That's enough, now. Get those pointe slippers back on, and give me some turns and stretches." Kumo allowed himself a short groan, at which Fabula patted him on the shoulder and leaned in. "Think of it this way—it helps build your flexibility, and remember… no matter who you're in bed with, the more flexible you are, the better you can drive them crazy."

Kumo blushed, but laughed.

"Build up that self-confidence a little. You're going to need it with Kiri as much as you're going to need it onstage next month."

**Owari.**


	37. Hopeless

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **37 – "I know it's hopeless when you're my answer to every question."

**Rating: **K

**Summary: **It's just one of the many symptoms of being absolutely stupid in love. General consensus among Kiri's friends has decreed it to be the cutest one.

---

"So, do you think you'll be able to come?" Aura asked, shifting where she leaned against the fence and taking a drink from the half-filled can of iced tea.

"Hmm. I don't know—Kumo and I'll have to work it out," Kiri replied, running a hand through his hair distractedly.

"Pfft…" Aura covered her smile almost as soon as it appeared, and Hoshi and Arashi exchanged knowing glances.

"What? What? Did I miss something?" Kiri put his hands on his hips and scowled back and forth from one of them to the next.

"It's nothing. Is it like you have any other plans?" Aura went on.

"No, not really—it's just, Kumo may want to come along too, or something might've happened at school and I'll need to stay with him and—alright, _what _is so funny?" He glared at the three of them as they made a valiant effort to choke back their laughter. "It's not Let's Find Innuendo In Innocuous Words Day or something, is it?"

"No, no—not at all." Hoshi shook his head, still smiling and not bothering trying to smooth it out. "It's just—sweet."

_"What _is? Look, if Kumo and I are that much of a problem—" Though clearly puzzled, Kiri gave all of them his best glower, crossing his arms over his chest.

"It's just ridiculously cute how besotted you are," Arashi said with a grin. "We're not making fun of you, really."

_"Huh?"_

"You're never going to get it, so just give it up," Aura told him bluntly, reaching out to pat his shoulder. "You're just hopeless that way. But check with Kumo; it wouldn't be a problem for us if he wanted to come along too."

"I'll do that," Kiri said, pulling his cellphone out of his pocket and mentally shaking his head over the lot of them. Friends were so _weird _sometimes.

**Owari.**


	38. Special

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **38 – "You don't need me or anyone else to make you special; you already are."

**Rating: **K+

**Summary: **Sometimes, it's hard for Kumo to feel like he's anyone important. It's lucky he and his perennial self-esteem booster are joined at the hip.

---

"Niisama, I… I really admire the way you can stand up and do things like that," Kumo said softly, leaning into Kiri's side as Kiri slung an affectionate and possessive arm around his waist, glaring at the group of younger kids who were slinking off, occasionally shooting dirty looks back in their direction.

"Bitchy comes with the territory when idiots like that start harassing you." Kiri gave the kids his evilest glare and his most vehement version of the finger. "You should've waited a little longer, given them a good taste of Sumire. They deserved a lot more bile than they got."

Kumo just shook his head. "Sumire is—too violent. They're young; they don't know any better. I don't want to hurt them… I just want them to leave me be."

Kiri rolled his eyes. "I beg to differ on the knowing better part, but I understand the rest. It's unfortunate that getting them to leave us alone generally requires the application of physical force, but oh well."

Kumo sighed and leaned into Kiri's shoulder, closing his eyes and basking in Kiri's protective aura. "…You're strong. I really envy that, Niisama…"

"I don't know about strong. Overprotective, sometimes. Jealous, hell yes. Pissed, most definitely. But strong… that's more what _you _are, Kumo, being able to take all their crap without flinching until I get here."

"I'm not strong." Kumo looked down at the ground sadly. "There's—nothing strong about me."

Kiri just looked at him. "Why say that?"

"I always—have to rely on you to rescue me, on you to protect me… I wouldn't know anything about swordsmanship if it weren't for you. Without you, I don't know if I could take hearing those people, day after day…"

Kiri laughed.

"You're plenty strong, Kumo. It doesn't take any real substance to run in swinging a sword—just a lot of fear or worry or mad that needs to get worked out. But that you can wait for me, that you can hold back so you won't give in to your other self, won't hurt people who might actually deserve it—that takes a lot of restraint, and you need strength for that. There are plenty of ways in which you're stronger than me, Kumo, and I don't want you to forget that…

"Although," Kiri added, as if it were an afterthought, "I can still kick your ass around the practice grounds any time I choose. Don't forget _that, _either."

Kumo had to bite back a laugh of his own at that. "Niisama…"

"There." Kiri smiled wryly and reached out to ruffle his brother's soft hair. "Now, if we're done with that little emotional crisis, we need to get home. I need to get changed. If Mom sees the mess I made of my outfit sorting out those idiots, we're both dead."

Kumo stood up straight and slipped his hand into Kiri's, smiling back. "Alright."

**Owari.**


	39. Proposal

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **39 – "I can't promise you the world. I can't promise you wealth, comfort, or even happiness. But I can promise you one thing… no matter what, you will always be loved."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **Kiri hasn't been this nervous since the Epic Love Confession. Still, at a time like this, he has every right to be… even if it kind of is a foregone conclusion.

---

"You did pretty good today," Kiri said with a grin as he and Kumo headed down the hall that led out of the dojo.

"You really think…?" Kumo blushed a little. "I was just lucky…"

"Don't pass it off as luck—you've been practicing a lot, and working with me, when I'm in a way higher class. It's no real wonder that you're getting better and better, seeing as you're so diligent."

"…thank you, Niisama." Kumo reached for his hand and held it, and they walked the rest of the way home in warm silence.

Kiri, however, was preoccupied. While Kumo waved to friends and classmates, he slipped his hand into his pocket and felt the hard edges of the velvet-covered box hidden there. Tonight. He'd sworn to himself it would be tonight.

However, as soon as they got inside, Kumo gave him that coquettish questioning look and tilted his head lightly in the direction of the stairs. Kiri's heart flipped over and he felt that hot jolt of lust punch from his groin through his belly, and he decided that maybe it could wait a little longer.

They barely managed to get up the stairs and into the room before they fell upon each other voraciously, tangling tightly and undressing each other just to the point where Kiri could take Kumo hard and fast up against the wall. Love and lust and fluttery anticipation braided in Kiri's chest as he pushed his hips against his lover's, as Kumo's thighs squeezed tight around his hips. He sealed his lips over Kumo's as they came, muffling Kumo's scream into an urgent moan.

Dizzy with release, the two of them sank down to the floor, panting. Kumo murmured and put his arms lightly around Kiri's shoulders, slumping back against the wall.

"Kumo…"

"Hnn."

"I, uh—had something I wanted to talk about."

"…?" Kumo opened his eyes and looked at his brother hazily.

Kiri couldn't hold back the crooked smile, or the light kiss on Kumo's cheek. "At the risk of sounding redundant, pathetic, and insecure… and knowing full well I love you, and that you love me… are you sure that keeping this relationship going will be good for us in the long run? It'll be hard for us—even just telling those close to us, Mom and Dad will completely flip, and our friends and more distant family may not be able to accept it, let alone the general populace. You and I aren't supposed to feel this way. We're supposed to do the diplomatic thing, fall for people in other families or even other cities, bring Mystaria together. It's too late to do that, and we won't be able to hide this forever. So…"

"There is no one else for me but you," Kumo said simply. "Niisama, I've already given you everything I am. I couldn't do that with anyone else."

Kiri smiled. "Well, I… can tell you it's going to be hard. Maybe impossible. We'll be even more of pariahs than we already are because of our social status, and in a worst-case scenario, our parents'll have to turn us out. This is risky, even really dangerous. I can't promise you everything I should be able to, only that I'll always love you. But… since we both feel the same way and nothing can undo that… Kumo… do you want to take this all the way?"

Kumo looked at him for a moment, nonplussed, then his eyes began to widen. "…You mean… a life-bonding? Permanently… weaving our lives? Niisama…"

"You're the only one I'll ever love," Kiri told him. "So, yes, I'm asking: When the time is right, will you consent to enter a life-bond with me?"

Kumo smiled, and there were tears in his eyes as he nodded slightly. _"Yes."_

Kiri shifted his weight to get at his pocket, and pulled the box out, opening it to display the two rings in the little slit pouch in the center. "Then… I've had these for a while. This one's yours. Maybe they're not the traditional kind of thing, but…" Shrugging and seeing that Kumo wasn't saying anything, Kiri lifted his brother's right hand into his lap and slipped the emerald-studded ring onto his finger.

"It's so pretty." Kumo raised his hand to admire it.

"They're white gold, so we won't have to clean them all the time. When it's time to do the real thing, I promise I'll get you real gold. For now, this's the best I can do…"

Kumo shook his head and smiled, and silenced Kiri with a kiss.

When they came apart, he stayed close, leaning in so their lips still brushed. "As long as it's the symbol of our promise, I don't care what it looks like… it's good enough for me."

**Owari.**


	40. Hello

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **40 – "Hello is such a simple word. But from the right person, it can mean everything."

**Rating: **K

**Summary: **In those days, Kumo's life was purgatory. There was only one bright spot in his days… and, no, you don't get a prize for guessing what.

---

There wasn't much Kumo could do but read, and because books took up most of his time, he knew that this wasn't the way kids his age were supposed to live.

Children were expected to go out on the cloudscape and play; they were supposed to be entering school, testing out their Mist and beginning to find out what they might like to do as adults. They were supposed to be getting into mischief and getting scrapes and fencing with bokken and stick and even a finger, when they lacked anything else. They were supposed to be making friends, exploring the ruins, having adventures.

When no one else was in the room, Kumo would do his best to crawl out of bed and over to the window, where he would rest his forearms and his chin against the sill and watch the people going about their daily lives so far below. He'd watch and watch until his legs ached, or until he got the feeling that someone was coming, in which case he'd stagger back to bed and curl back up with his books. Aside from his family and the healers, books were all he knew of the world.

Because of that, Kumo sometimes felt as though he knew more of the world than he would've normally. While other children his age play-fenced and dreamed of saving their city from monsters, Kumo read and learned about the histories and legends of his proud people, tracing elegant lines of script that told of courage and sacrifice and miracles. He'd read and read until his fingers felt heavy and his eyes hurt, and he'd lie back and stare at the ceiling and cough and cough and wonder despairingly if he'd ever be able to leave this place, and live a life of his own rather than seeing through others' eyes.

His parents smiled and told him to be patient, that he'd get stronger as he got older. The healers told him sternly that worrying would put a strain on his health and he should spend more time conserving his strength.

Kumo was so, so tired of always being sick.

But ennui and annoyance and the niggling beginnings of self-hatred would always recede after the schools let out at last, and the one he loved best came home.

The doorknob turned, and Kumo sat up in bed, his eyes lighting up in his too-pale face, as Kiri came inside with schoolbooks and his practice sword under his arm, his hair and clothes disheveled, and a broad smile on his face.

"Hey," he said. "Hope you haven't been too bored."

And Kumo's chest would go warm and wonderfully light, and he would forget long enough to enjoy a sliver of the normalcy he so craved.

**Owari.**


	41. Touch

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **41 – "Never be afraid to touch someone."

**Rating: **K

**Summary: **It was just one of those little moments in life, and it was just precious.

---

The sun was setting.

Kiri and Kumo were walking side by side towards home, passing through the outskirts of the city and making their way around the ruins—it was one of their favorite routes, and it was one they took often, because they so rarely ran into other people when they went that way. Even so long after the initial explosion and scandal, there were still those who weren't happy with the overall situation.

So they'd walk this way, and they'd have the world to themselves and each other.

Kiri had pulled his hair up into a tail to get it off the back of his neck, since even though the air was cooling down he'd worked up a sweat in training. The collar of his swordsman's reds was slightly lopsided, so that his left shoulder was half-bared and his right and a half-inch in front of it were entirely covered. Kiri didn't notice things like that; Kumo saw them and smiled and almost wanted to reach out and pull it straight, but knew that Kiri would just make a face and shrug and wiggle until it was back where it was, since he'd gotten comfortable with it. It was better not to bother.

They'd gotten out of practice late and so they'd had the music room all to themselves; they'd wound up staying late there to work the kinks out of their latest duet, and their mother would shake her head at them until their father quieted her. They'd definitely walk in just a few minutes before dinner. Madori wouldn't like that, but at least since they weren't late because of a fight she wouldn't really get angry.

Kiri was carrying his cello in the crook of his arm. He'd been using the soft case lately although when the weather shifted for good he'd have to start using the hard case, the one with small wheels at the base so he could pull it behind him as he walked. Someone else might've had to use both arms, but after so much swordsmanship training, Kiri's cello in all its bulk didn't seem to be nearly too much for him to carry. He walked effortlessly, but at a slight angle to support it better.

He was so cute, Kumo decided with a smile.

Shifting his flute case to his left hand, Kumo reached out and took Kiri's, squeezing it slightly. Kiri blinked and looked over at him questioningly; Kumo just shrugged lightly and edged a little closer so that their shoulders were pressed together.

Kiri shook his head and smiled and slipped his hand out of Kumo's, putting his arm around Kumo's shoulders instead.

It was just one of those moments.

**Owari.**


	42. Gone

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **42 – "Be careful with your heart. If you give it away, you may never get it back."

**Rating: **K+

**Summary: **He knows how she feels, but he can't give her what he doesn't have.

---

Kumo wasn't stupid.

He knew very well what it meant to be looked with the gaze he occasionally found Crux flitting in his direction. Kiri had given him much the same look long ago, before they'd had their mutual confession and gotten together.

And he did love her, but not the way she needed, not the way she deserved.

The poor child. Kumo wasn't nearly all she thought he was; he'd been kind to her, and she was a steadfast friend, but just because he'd been the first person to recognize her worth, she'd developed something for him that he couldn't feel for anyone anymore.

His heart wasn't his own anymore; it hadn't belonged to him since that starry night on the rooftop when he was twelve years old. He couldn't give it to her, no matter how much he wanted to, no matter how much she deserved it.

And she deserved so, so much better than him.

But as he well knew, once you'd given your heart away, it was rare that you would get it back at all, let alone unscarred.

He would just have to do the best by her as he could.

**Owari.**


	43. Tact

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **43 – "Sometimes someone can say something so small and meaningful that it manages to fit right into that empty space in your heart."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **Kiri never quite understood how Kumo always managed to say exactly the right thing, but you could never accuse him of being ungrateful for it.

---

Kiri hunched his shoulders and leaned back against the wall, sighing. Why was it that two out of every three days in his life were crappy? Never _mind _that he was top of his class and that he was two classes ahead of his age range, according to the instructors who'd been teaching them all today, he never managed to do _anything _right. They were forever correcting his grip, reprimanding him for striking too hard or jumping too far or _standing out _too much.

Traditionalists. They were God's curse on any liberal with self-respect and pride, honestly.

And _then _they'd started in on Kumo, in the class below Kiri's. And Kiri wasn't going to just sit there and watch that, so he'd gotten up from where he'd been trying to get his breath back and told the bastards off at the top of his lungs.

Of course, that was when Sora had decided to walk back in. She'd taken him off into the corner, where she'd given him the quietest, most civil tongue-lashing of his life. She'd then talked to Kumo and to the teachers she'd left to deal with things in her absence, and apparently the bastards had gotten a lot worse than Kiri, but still. It _stung._

"Niisama?"

Kiri looked up from where he'd been sulking to see that Kumo was walking towards him, still dressed entirely in his fencer's whites. "Are they done with you, then?" Kumo nodded; Kiri straightened up with a groan. "We'd better be getting home, then. Can't be late for our lovely mother's lectures, now can we?"

Kumo nodded again, and the two of them began to walk towards the changing halls so that they could pick up Kumo's street clothes.

Kiri felt Kumo's hand in his and turned to see that Kumo was smiling up at him.

"Niisama… thank you for standing up for me. You don't know how much that means."

Kiri started to smile back, feeling his chest go warm.

Somehow, Kumo always had a way of making everything worth it.

**Owari.**


	44. Tears

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **44 – "Tears are words the heart cannot say."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **If it was the right thing to do, then why was it so painful?

---

There was a great crack, and then a sound like stained glass shattering. Kumo watched, only half-comprehending, as Kiri's eyes went huge with shock, as he coughed briefly and blood came up, as his hand went half to his chest. Only when he stumbled forward and Kiri fell hard next to him, their bodies brushing for barely a second, did realization steal Kumo's stability, sending him painfully to his knees.

He looked down slowly, as though in a trance. Kiri lay sprawled on his side with his eyes closed and tears crystalline on his cheeks. He wasn't moving. He wasn't breathing.

Kiri's Maken—or the lower part of it; the blade had snapped off a little less than a third of the way down the sword's length—lay a few feet away, the crystal that had been part of Kiri's soul splintered. Of course. Kiri'd said as much himself—his sword was the focus that had bound him to life. And with it broken…

Kiri's long cloak had fanned out as he'd fallen, and a good half of it was draped over Kumo's shoulder, tattered and bloody and worn, but warm. Kumo was touching it lightly, he realized. When had he reached up to it? He didn't remember…

He couldn't think. He didn't want to think. Raw, horrible pain clutched tightly around his heart, and he bowed down, clutching the thin fabric under his hand tightly.

He wanted to speak, but words wouldn't come. His eyes hurt. He struggled for something—anything—an apology, at the very least—but all that came were tears.

As Kiri's body faded and slipped into Mist, leaving behind only the cloak and the broken sword, Kumo let them go.

**Owari.**


	45. Vow

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **45 – "A promise is all I want. A promise that you will never forget me."

**Rating: **K+

**Summary: **Kumo had come too close to forgetting why he was fighting. He couldn't let himself do it again… he had promised, after all.

---

"…Leave me be for a while."

"Makenshi? Hey, you shouldn't just—"

Kumo ignored Cid and kept walking, keeping his expression impassive as he walked through the ruins of his home.

Everything he saw here was like a stab to the heart. Back then, in the Ocean Puzzle, he hadn't had the time to really take any of this in; afterwards, he'd been reeling with the bereavement of having his love die at his hands, reeling far too hard to notice anything but his own immediate pain. And thirteen years ago, when Mystaria had been destroyed, he'd fallen straight from his world into Windaria, to Aura and Kaze and the inevitable realization of his destiny.

He'd never had the chance to search for fragments of his world in those months he'd served at Gaudium, though he'd known it was perfectly possible for there to be some. He'd been so busy pretending, immersing himself in his role, that he hadn't ever been able to consider the possibility. He'd known since his awakening in Wonderland a year ago that he was the only survivor of his kind. He'd have sensed the Mist of any of his people, had they been anywhere in that world—and with his ability to slide between the fabric of Wonderland at will, he'd have been at their side in an instant. Anyone who'd managed to make it through the cataclysmic destruction of Mystaria had died while he'd slept.

So, really, aside from the constant ache of Kiri's loss, Kumo had never had any reminders pushed in his face—until recently anyway—of why he was doing this at all.

Even after so long, Kumo didn't have to think about where he was going at all. He just let his feet drift along the storm-torn ground and glanced around at the scarred wreckage of the buildings, allowing the weight of what he was seeing to settle onto his tired shoulders.

Up ahead, there was a break in the buildings.

As he walked forward, Kumo's heart trembled, but he held his course.

At last, he reached the spot he'd been seeking on some level since he and Cid had arrived here, and sank to his knees on the barren, ruined ground.

With shaking hands, Kumo reached out and touched the stone, tracing the weathered engraving, running his fingers lovingly over Kiri's faded name. The gravemarker was ancient and badly tended, but it was still perfectly legible; there was a garland of withered spider lilies draped in front of the stone, brown and cracked, and what looked like the remains of a stick of incense. In front of them lay the shattered lower half of Kiri's Maken, where Kumo had left it in blind grief before he'd somehow made his way back to Gaudium because that had been all he'd known to do.

"…Niisama…"

How could Kumo have ever, even for a moment, wanted to give up and die? He'd sworn back then that he would never forget what had happened here. There were so many other people like Kiri who would lose their lives if this went on, and so many like him who would be torn apart by those people's loss. And the Comodeen—they'd keep fighting on their own; they'd all be slaughtered, sacrificed to satiate Chaos' hunger. Kumo could not allow that to happen.

"Niisama, I… I promise, I _will _defeat Chaos. I'll make sure that all the others like us will have what we never could…"

Kumo hesitated another moment, then raised his fingertips to his lips, kissed them lightly, and pressed them to Kiri's name. Heartbreak swelled in his chest, jagged and excruciating, then eased; tears welled in his eyes, but he blinked them back. It wasn't yet time for him to grieve. Once the battle was over, he'd allow himself to cry for Kiri again, but now…

Now it was time to lock his private heart away, and raise his sword.

Kumo stood, glanced at the grave once more, and walked away.

**Owari.**


	46. Involuntary

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **46 – "Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was choice, but falling in love with you was completely out of my control."

**Rating: **K

**Summary: **There was a hidden truth behind the words that day that Kumo wouldn't discover until much later. For now, that Kiri knew was enough for him.

---

These were the hands, Kiri thought wonderingly, that had curled tightly around his fingers that day when he was three. These were the eyes that had stolen his breath, had made him realize the world's weight that had landed so suddenly upon his shoulders then.

Ever since then, he'd been a goner. Destiny, and his parents, had decided to give him a little brother. Kiri had become Kumo's friend and protector, not just because he'd been expected to, but because he'd wanted to. He'd wanted to look at that beautiful creature who depended on him so completely, and know that the smile on Kumo's face was there because of him.

But from that first moment their eyes had met, when they'd been little more than babies—God, Kiri'd been falling in love with Kumo ever since that moment.

And now, twelve years to the day, Kiri leaned back against the wall and watched Kumo smile up at their parents, he knew that it was hopeless. There wasn't anything he could do to stem the tide, no matter how wrong this was. He'd love Kumo to his dying day, and beyond.

When Kumo gleefully tore open the gift Kiri had given him and tackled his brother in thanks, Kiri held him a second longer than usual, and he said the words "I love you" a bit softer, with the truth shining through the soft pause between the syllables.

Kumo gave him a questioning glance, as though he sensed the change, but the next moment he turned back to their laughing parents, and the moment was forgotten.

Kiri let his brother go. It was too soon, anyway.

But someday. Someday, he'd have to say this.

For now, just knowing would have to be enough.

**Owari.**


	47. Possessive

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **47 – "I never want another person to know just how incredible you are."

**Rating: **K

**Summary: **Kiri will be happy for Kumo once he's able to prove himself to the world, but at the same time, he still wants to keep his brother to himself.

---

Kumo narrowed his focus to his imaginary target, clenched his hands a little tighter on the hilt of Kiri's old bokken, and swung with a sharp yell, hearing the air whistle past him.

"That's good," Kiri said proudly. "That's really good, Kumo! Usually it takes _months _for people to start hitting that straight. Nice work!"

Kumo blushed a little, but spared a glance at his brother's beaming face. "O-only because you've been helping me so much, Niisama…"

"Nah, it's more than that—I can tell. You've worked really hard, and it looks like you have some talent that's helping you out, like I do. Before long, I'll have to get help to teach you. Students shouldn't really teach students, after all…"

Kumo laughed a little, wavered where he stood, and then sat down, breathless. At first, he hadn't been able to stand more than ten minutes of swordwork before he'd had to rest, dizzy and sweaty and feeling like his whole body was on fire. Over the past weeks, that time limit had slowly lengthened, until Kumo was able to sustain exercise for two hours straight or more, if he needed to. All the while, Kiri'd slowly coached him through the foundations of swordsmanship, hiding their efforts from their parents and the healers who'd forbidden such a thing.

And not only was Kumo finding that he really did enjoy the play of sword through the air, but he was starting to feel stronger, as if maybe he really was able to do whatever he set his mind to as Kiri kept insisting. And he hadn't been sick as often; the illnesses he had contracted hadn't hit him nearly as hard as they might have before. For that, Kumo was more grateful to Kiri than he could ever express.

"Niisama, when I'm a little stronger… maybe we can stop hiding," he said softly, looking down at his borrowed sword. "Maybe then, I'll finally be able to be normal, like you and everyone else."

"…hmph. Maybe."

Kumo looked up at Kiri and saw that his brother had a strange look on his face. "Niisama, is something wrong?"

"Not really," Kiri said with a shrug. "Anyway, this is probably enough for today. Why don't you go get changed and then we'll head back home?"

But as Kumo stood up and ran off to do as he was bid, he thought he heard Kiri murmur, "I _like _having you all to myself."

**Owari.**


	48. Prejudice

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **48 – "Don't say we aren't right for each other. The way I see it, we aren't right for anyone else."

**Rating: **K+

**Summary: **As far as obstacles went, it was their most daunting.

---

"No matter how many times you tell me that, I will _never _allow this," Madori yelled, her deep emerald eyes flashing dangerously. "It isn't right, and it isn't right for you!"

Kiri held Kumo a little tighter as his little brother shivered. "There is _no one _for me but him," he retorted viciously. "Nothing _you _say can change how _we _feel!"

"You're only _children! _What do you know about love?!" Madori demanded.

"Madori…" Kageshi said softly from beside her.

"We know enough about love to know that once something just rips the center right out of you, nothing can take that back," Kiri proclaimed bravely, stubbornly, and held Kumo closer still. "Go on—try to tear us apart! Anything you do will only make us closer!"

"…………" Madori glared at her sons, but something had flickered in her eyes while Kiri had spoken. She didn't speak.

"Come on—you remember how it was for _you, _don't you? You know that nothing could've gotten you not to love Dad, don't you?" Kiri pressed. "Since you've felt it too, you should _understand _what it is you're seeing! Don't be so narrow-minded!"

Madori bristled, but Kageshi stood and put a hand on his lifemate's shoulder.

"Go calm down," he suggested softly. "I'll talk to them."

"You aren't _seriously _thinking of allowing—" Madori began to demand, but Kageshi cut her off with a shake of his head. 

"You're angry… it's not letting you see. What we have here is… unusual. But… what you can't deny is the fact that it's as true, as strong, as painful as any other love that's ever been considered true. Maybe it isn't right. But just forcing them apart blindly wouldn't be right, either."

Madori looked at her sons clutched intimately together, at Kiri's guarded glare, at the way Kumo's eyes were still wide with pain at her words. There was still iron in her shoulders as she turned away, but turn away she did.

"…Kageshi… don't disprove my trust in your judgment."

**Owari.**


	49. Only

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **49 – "It's not what I feel for you. It's what I don't feel for anyone but you."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **It's not really possible to get tired of hearing why it was you instead of somebody else, is it?

---

"Again?" Kiri looked over at his little brother with a bemused expression. "Jeez, you never get sick of this, do you?"

"No." Kumo squeezed Kiri's hand a little tighter, feeling warm heat rise to his cheeks. "Tell me again, please…"

"Pfft." Kiri leaned back as he walked, staring up at the brilliantly blue sky. "Either you're a lot more insecure in our relationship than I thought, or you're beginning to fall victim to your ego."

Kumo laughed a little and bent slightly to pick up a stick lying on the sidewalk, holding it out beside him as they continued on. They still had three or four blocks to go to get home, and since the weather was beautiful, they'd decided to take the walk at a leisurely pace, enjoy autumn suburbia for once.

"Well, I knew it had to be you because of all the strange feelings I had around you—those, and the fact that I never had them around any of our other friends. I mean—I never wanted to jump between Ame and the rest of the world."

Kumo closed his eyes and listened, his tiny smile growing more and more.

"People still give Hoshi grief, but I'm willing to accept that he can take care of himself."

Kumo held his stick out a little further and felt it clang into something, then opened his eyes and glanced absently to the side that they were passing a bike rack.

"I wouldn't wanna grow old next to Arashi, as accepting and open-minded as she is."

Kumo dragged the stick against the bike rack, enjoying the rattling feeling it sent up his arm as much as Kiri's fingers laced through his, at the sound of his beloved brother's voice.

"My day never did a 180 after I saw Lisa's face."

Seeing that the stick was mostly mangled, Kumo tossed it aside and leaned in closer to Kiri, who dropped his hand and put an arm around his shoulders.

"My heart never went _splat _when I looked at Kaze."

Kumo snuggled his cheek against Kiri's shoulder, breathing in the crisp air. He loved this season, he loved this walk, and he _loved _hearing Kiri say these things.

"And, hell, I never got the irresistible impulse to grab Aura's ass. Good thing, too. She'd kill me."

Kumo laughed and put his arms around Kiri's waist.

"Besides, you're the cutest person I've ever known. If not you, then who?"

"Nobody," Kumo answered dreamily, giving Kiri a squeeze. "Nobody but me. Not ever."

"Damn straight." Both of them laughed. "Happy now?"

Kumo considered it for a moment, then nodded against Kiri's shoulder. "…Yes. Yes, I am."

**Owari.**


	50. Destiny

Anata ga Ita Kara

See disclaimer in 01

**Theme: **50 – "What's meant to be will always find a way."

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **When you need me, I will be there. No matter what, I will save you. I love you. Compared to that, death is insignificant.

---

Most of the time, it was like being asleep.

For Kiri, consciousness was like the last embers of flame clinging to the final sodden inch of candlewick. Sometimes he was aware; others he faded further and further into nothingness. Only a supreme effort of will—and sheer stubbornness—held him there, in that place, even when he couldn't remember why. Through the haze of death and exhaustion and formlessness, the one constant was the absolute certainty that he couldn't "move on" just yet. There was still something he had to do.

But without so much as a body, with only the last dregs of his strength, it took all he had just to hold on. He spent days, weeks at a time semi-comatose, barely aware of anything that was going on around him. He had to conserve what little power he had. For what—he wasn't sure he knew, but he knew there'd come a day when he needed it.

So when the time came that he woke up, he would be ready.

---

Crux looped through the air wildly, not paying any attention to where she was going, only aware of the knowledge that she had to get _away._

The problem was that her double was as capable as she was and more; barely three yards behind her came that stubborn streak of powder blue, with white steel glinting to either side of it. In a clear sky like this, what in the world was she supposed to do to foil her pursuer?

She hadn't been _expecting _this, and she should've. And that was _annoying. _Hadn't she been watching this world for long enough to know that those of Gaudium were far more organized this time around than she'd ever seen them when she'd been their slave? The problem was Soljashy, she was sure of it—with the previous Lords of Gaudium in control, he'd never been able to exert his influence, but _now—_

Besides, she should've expected that Oscha would've deployed someone or something to keep an eye on the Comodeen and the Black Wind, just as before. How had she _not _thought of this before?

"Dyuuuu…"

Crux gritted her teeth, half-closed her eyes, and folded her wings flat behind her, dropping sharply just in time to avoid her duplicate's swipe. She could see one of the floating islands at the edge of her vision; she'd aim for it, and try to lose her other self there. As long as she couldn't fight, that was her only hope of survival.

---

"Th-there are so many of them…!" Yu looked around desperately, edging back.

"What are we gonna do?! We have to make it in time to save all these people!" Ai yelled.

"You two, hurry and head for the head temple! I'll—" Lisa started, but Kumo held up an arm to cut her off.

"No. You haven't the time to waste. Protect your people; construct the Spirit Barrier as we planned. You know I can deal with these creatures, and you know you mustn't use your powers to fight them. You'll only be doing what Chaos wants."

"But…" Lisa looked at him pleadingly, but Kumo turned away, drawing his Maken.

"Go—quickly! The more time is wasted, the more lives will be lost! _Now!"_

"C'mon, Lisa, you know he's right—" Yu began quietly.

"Don't you go getting killed, Makenshi," Ai scolded. "If you do, I'm gonna get mad at you!"

"I'll be fine," he replied, but looked out at the vast waves of Soljashy's mutated robots and knew that without some kind of miracle, he would not be able to handle this alone.

---

Fabula rested her chin on the heel of her hand and looked consideringly into her scrying crystal, frowning slightly. With the Comodeen busy fending off attacks from the Chinese military, there was no way they could come to her travelers' aid; Kuroki Kaze was halfway across the Earth and wouldn't come no matter how much anyone prodded until he felt like it. Lisa and the children would have their hands full just trying to find Lisa's master.

Kumo would be on his own in this, then.

Unless…

Fabula squared her shoulders and stood up, sweeping her long hair back with a sigh. Well, it was about time for her to go give things a good poke anyway—and she knew just how she could make the one good shake she was allowed count.

---

Crux ducked around a building and hesitated just a moment to get her breath back. The next, she was slammed violently from behind, and pain ripped across her back and over her shoulder as steel whistled through the air right there.

"Dyuu…"

Crux whirled and slammed her passenger hard into the wall, barely peeling herself away to catch a glimpse of wicked, amused ruby eyes and bloody blades before she dipped and flew through a window into open space.

_Damn… _She was listing to one side; her double's attack must've damaged her wings. Numbness continued to flicker along her shoulder, and a twisting crackle told her that her joint there was on the edge of a short-circuit.

She had to get away. She _had _to get _away—_she'd done what she'd set out to do, and she had to report back to Kumo. She was a part of the fight she'd been watching now; she had something to live for—she would _not _just roll over and die.

There was another violent impact from behind her, and her vision hazed as she spiraled down and crashed hard into the soft clouds, then unyielding stone.

---

It wasn't the fight that pulled Kiri out of his dormant slumber into what awareness he could manage, but rather a feeling like someone'd just shaken his shoulder hard and berated him for sleeping in pitched tones, right into his ear. As his disorientation cleared, he watched with increasing lucidity as the little pink fairy-doll fled the blue one with its distinctly evil smile and the scythelike blades attached to its arms. He watched as their aerial dodge-and-weave pulled closer and closer, then as the blue one overtook the pink and sent it—her—slamming hard into the ground, sliding and rolling right up to the foot of Kiri's headstone, where his shattered sword still rested.

At about the same time Kiri started to remember he'd seen this little pink one before and sensed an impression of Kumo's aura still surrounding her, he started to get annoyed. The blue doll had _some _nerve, chasing someone over here where he was _trying _to sleep and so rudely waking him up to destroy her adversary. Besides, the pink one was his brother's ally. And the only one who'd _ever _been allowed to mess with Kumo in any way had been him.

So when the blue doll touched in and began to walk forward, the propeller on its back slowing to a dull whir and then stopping, Kiri narrowed down his focus and glared.

The doll blinked, and then its ruby eyes started to widen with confusion and suspicion.

The exertion hurt a little, but Kiri honed down on that irritation he felt and continued to glower in its direction. Slowly, the texture of the surrounding air began to change, and the immediate area began to fill with the bright crimson haze of his Mist.

—_Leave._

Either the threat in his voice or the fact that the doll didn't know what to do about this sudden change of situation made it step back, looking around wildly, then take to the air, turning tail and fleeing as quickly as it could. Kiri glared after it, giving a little derisive sniff, then looked down at the pink doll dispassionately.

It was pretty badly damaged; its torn shoulder joint was sending off sparks and its wings with their transparent screen kept flickering on and off. But its eyes were still half open and focused in his general direction, and its chest was heaving. It was aware; it was alive.

Slowly—it was hard to remember how—Kiri uncurled and stepped down. He could only just feel the ground under his feet, and he could see through himself—he was nowhere near fully corporeal—but this would suffice for now.

—_You know where he is, don't you?_

"Kuuu…" Agreement, Kiri thought. He was pretty sure. It would take time for him to start to understand that form of speech, and that was time neither of them had.

—_Then take me to him. I can sense… we don't have much time._

The doll pushed itself—herself up and gave a slow nod in his direction. Kiri closed the eyes of his half-manifested form and focused hard, pulling everything that he was _inward._

The next moment he was aware, they were flying.

---

Kumo parried and lunged and slashed; the six Doldiers surrounding him all exploded, bursting into heaps of scrap metal, the business cards Soljashy used as ofuda to control them split. Although he jumped back, he felt pain bite across his back and twisted to evade the cord the seventh Doldier had slashed at him. He stumbled and recovered just in time to run back to duck the _other _cords being flung at him.

With hands and arms that shook, Kumo braced his Maken and glared out at the waves and waves of enemies that remained. Soljashy was probably enjoying this, wherever he was. Kumo was already at his limit, and he'd only been able to deal with about half of the main force that had been sent after those children. And Lisa wasn't back yet. There were probably _more _Doldiers inside, and her heart was faltering enough as it was—she was starting to crack under the strain, and Kumo feared what she would be capable of if she lost herself to grief or anger. Although it was his and Kaze's Unlimited potential that would eventually seal Chaos—or not—in _this_ battle, the fight for the freedom of Earth and its people, it was Lisa, Ai, and Yu who held the key to ultimate victory or disaster.

And without his Mist, without the ability to summon, all Kumo could do for them was buy time.

_Why _weren't the Comodeen here yet? Or better, Kaze? The pull of Chaos _should _have summoned him by now—

Another line of Doldiers started to inch forward. Kumo glared, shook blood out of his eyes, and ran forward, wrenching his body from the waist to carve them to pieces straight down their line and only barely making it back to his hillock in time to avoid getting caught.

He was trembling and sweating and struggling to breathe, bleeding from a dozen wounds, his clothes ripped along the arms and at the knees, slices across his chest and belly revealing the ugly half-healed scar from his last major confrontation with Chaos. His hands were starting to slip along the hilt of his Maken, and blood loss was making him light-headed. His sight was hazing, and he wasn't sure he could stay conscious for much longer.

He didn't know how much longer he'd be able to last.

The thought had barely crossed his mind when there was a sudden scream of something plummeting fast and vicious through the air. Kumo looked up, bewildered, and was barely able to position himself to reach out and catch the falling streak of pink. As it was, he staggered back and forward and almost lost his balance.

"Crux…?"

She was panting and dizzy and obviously in terrible shape, shaking and clutching something small and round to her chest with both hands, so tightly that Kumo couldn't make out what it was. He fell to one knee as he cradled her closely, anxiously searching her face. He heard the Doldiers shifting back and forth as if uncertain whether to attack or not, but ignored them.

"Crux—say something, please…"

"Ku…" She shivered, but smiled at him.

"It's alright. You're alright," he said softly, knowing his worry was showing in his voice. "Just be still. Don't strain yourself…" 

"Kuu…" She tried to sit up in his arms, even so. "Ku… kuriyuu… kuuu…"

"Hush… please, you're in no condition…!" Kumo's eyes _hurt. _What was this feeling…? "You can tell me later. For now, just rest…"

"Ku…" She slumped against him, gave a shallow cough, and was still.

"Crux?"

Nothing.

_"Crux?!"_

Still nothing.

Kumo's throat closed tight, and he stared at her disbelievingly. "No—you can't—please! Don't—like this—don't you leave me, too—"

Crux's small hands uncurled, revealing that she'd been holding some kind of oval jewel in deep red-violet tones. As it fell, Kumo reached out compulsively to catch it, staring numbly.

As his fingers closed around it, familiarity rolled through his body, cresting a wave of sheer _shock._ Kumo's eyes went wide, the beginnings of tears forgotten, as a beloved voice echoed in his mind.

What an amazing sword… 

Kumo couldn't speak. He couldn't think. He could only listen, too overwhelmed by emotion to do anything else.

_Now it makes sense. That sword was made to cut down the _true_ enemy…_

The voice held nothing but wonder, and pain. And love.

My little brother, I'm counting on you now to succeed… where I could not. I'm counting on you… 

Kumo started to shiver, not knowing what he was supposed to think or feel or say or do. The next moment, everything froze, and the world went black.

---

It wasn't a sound—it was a feeling. As though each soft step behind him spread ripples that ran over his body with each movement.

At first Kumo was afraid to turn around, afraid his dead certainty about what—_who—_he'd see was wrong. Because he couldn't do anything else, he slowly shifted as the rippling steps finally halted.

"Hey."

Kiri stood a little less than arm's length across from him. Kumo knew from the pitch blackness around them and the ethereal glow haloing his brother's nude body that this was nothing more than a spiritual manifestation, a bodiless soul that hadn't yet "moved on" to the life beyond death.

And yet, if only for this moment, if Kumo reached out, he'd still be able to touch Kiri. At least for now, this was real. This was his chance to say what he'd needed to say for so long…

"Niisama, I… I'm so…"

Kiri blinked and shifted, cocking his head to the side in puzzlement. Kumo bowed his head, starting to shake, feeling tears start at his eyes.

"I-I'm so _sorry… _I… I…!"

"…"

"I never realized, and I… I should've been able to… I'm so sorry… I… I couldn't…"

"Kumo, look at me."

Kumo flinched at the iron in Kiri's words and slowly began to peek up. Kiri had one hand on his hip, and the other flat open and winding back for a blow. Kumo let out a surprised squeak and jerked back, but Kiri swung his hand around hard and stopped it at Kumo's cheek, lightly brushing his skin and then settling on his shoulder.

"You little _idiot," _Kiri said softly, peering into his brother's face with a worried smile. "You aren't going to tell me you actually _believed _all that bullshit about me?"

"Niisama…"

_"No _soul taken in by Chaos can ever really rest. Those people woke me up, violated my spirit and my free will just so that they could hurt you. They took a few small and unpleasant truths and blew them all out of proportion, and there wasn't anything I could do about it—they had my mind and body all twisted around to where I couldn't've resisted even if I'd been able to try. And even after everything I'm sure you've seen, you _believed _it… dumb baby brother." Kiri lightly tapped Kumo's forehead with his knuckles. "You may be Unlimited and all, but you're still naïve. And you trip over that naïveté at the worst times. That's why you've always needed me here to protect you."

"…Niisama…"

"But I haven't been able to take care of you. _I _tripped over _my _pride, and it got me killed. So… more than anything else, I'm the one who owes _you _an apology. …I'm so sorry I haven't been here for you, Kumo."

Kiri lightly touched the side of his face; Kumo leaned into that warm and insubstantial hand, closing his eyes, his chest aching.

"You've been fighting so hard on your own… Chaos has really hurt you, hasn't it." It was a statement, not a question. "Spiritually, mentally, emotionally…" Kiri's fingers trailed down Kumo's cheek to rest lightly on his throat, right over his larynx where the hard curve of his unresponsive Mist gland lay. "Physically. This isn't a hurt that's going to heal, or at least not for years and years. Chaos knew what it was doing, and it ripped you apart, didn't it…"

Kumo covered his face with both hands. "Niisama, I'm sorry. I wasn't—I couldn't do anything; it was all I could think of, and… I've tried so hard, but I haven't been able to change things. I've failed you. I've let our people down."

Kiri sighed; the sound was aggravated but resigned. "Kumo, knock off the stupid thing. It's cute, but it's not helping. _You haven't done anything wrong. _And you have _too _been able to change things. How far d'you think _these _people would've gotten without you running around half-killing yourself to keep them alive? The only mistake you've made is that while you're taking care of everyone around you, you're not letting them return the favor. You're strong, but you can't always be. There are times _you _need to be taken care of, too.

"And, let's be honest. If you keep trying to fight all alone, you're going to get killed, and _then _where's everyone going to be? That tagalong Windarian of yours isn't going to be able to handle Chaos all by himself, after all. Besides… when I see you hurt, it hurts me. So… please, Kumo. Let me do what I can for you. Let me save you, this once. And… we'll never fight alone again."

"Niisama, what do you mean…?" Kumo rubbed at tears, blinked, and stared at Kiri.

Kiri put a hand over his heart and closed his eyes. "Everything I was… everything I would've been… my heart, my soul, my strength… I give it all to you. My power is at your disposal. Call it an inheritance… or a legacy. Whichever you prefer. All that I had within me when I died, I bequeath to you, as is your right. Wherever you're broken, wherever you lack, let me make you whole. Wherever you go, you'll carry me with you… so that you'll never have to doubt my love again."

"…" Kumo wanted to protest, to refuse, but he couldn't speak. Kiri stepped in close and put warm arms around his body, pressing them together.

"Our future would've been so bright," Kiri said softly. "We would've had everything. Chaos tried to take that away, tried to destroy us, but I won't let it win. We were destined to be together, always."

"Always," Kumo repeated, and he said it like a pledge, resting his cheek against his brother's.

"Everything we were capable of together, you can now do alone," Kiri went on. "Remember how to use our power, and you'll be able to use mine. We'll show them. We'll show them all."

"I can't even begin to—" Kumo cut himself off, held Kiri tightly, and whispered the words that ripped sweet little slices of agony across his heart. "I love you. I love you so much. I'm so sorry."

"You idiot," Kiri said lightly, and kissed him.

In that moment, Kumo forgot all the misery he'd suffered since his beloved brother's death. He forgot that Chaos still loomed over the future; he forgot that there was an impossible battle waiting for the end of this brief reprieve. He closed his eyes and relaxed into Kiri's arms, yielding up his body and soul, allowing himself to be held protectively for the first time in far too long.

Kiri shifted his lips against Kumo's, lazily traced them up his cheek towards his ear, then nibbled. "Dream of me," he said in a soft, hazy moan. "Dream of me. I'll be there. I'll be there for you until the day you die."

Kumo shivered and made a soft sound of protest, pushing his hips against Kiri's in brief longing before his brother bent him back, meandering kisses across his throat. Kumo felt a brief strange warmth there, and then his breath caught and he realized what Kiri was doing.

"Niisama… you're…?"

"Now and always," Kiri said, pulling back and giving his lover that self-satisfied look. "Nothing can change the way I've always felt about you. _Nothing. _Now you go, and you teach those interfering bastards that we're not to be trifled with any longer." He smirked. "I have every confidence in you. Go make me proud."

"Niisama…"

"I love you. And I'm counting on you," Kiri said again. And with that, he stepped away, and the darkness and his vague image flickered out.

---

"…" Kumo blinked, his face wet with tears, and breathed, staring down at the jewel of his brother's soul in his loose grip. It rolled from his hand and fell against Crux's unresponsive body, then pulsed and sank half into her chest.

Kiri's jewel pulsed again, and then a bright glow enfolded them both.

Unevenly, Kumo stood and slipped his Maken back to his belt. His heart pounding hard, he resolved himself and took hold of the brightly shining blade that had taken Crux's place in his hands: A near duplicate of Kiri's Maken, striped with pink and white along the edges. He lifted it high, then as an afterthought reached down to his belt as he breathed out, hazing the air around him with white.

He pulled two bottles, slow and sure, and flipped one, watching absently as the Mist within turned a deep rose red. He closed his eyes for a moment, and in the echo of Kiri's presence, the words came.

"Now again, it's time for your tone of _madou _to re awaken… Mist… Play the soul's melody!

**"The Phoenix Duet!"**

**Owari.**


End file.
